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  • RESEARCH BRIEFINGS

Online search results can increase belief in misinformation

To counter misinformation, people are often advised to check the truth of claims by searching online. Five experiments show that this can actually increase people’s belief that false or misleading articles are true, an effect that might be driven by low-quality search results.

This is a summary of: Aslett, K. et al. Online searches to evaluate misinformation can increase its perceived veracity. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06883-y (2023).

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03665-4

Figure 1 is published under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

References

  1. Dutton, W. H., Reisdorf, B., Dubois, E. & Blank, G. Quello Center Working Paper 5-1-17 (2017).

  2. Golebiewski, M. & boyd, d. Data Voids: Where Missing Data Can Easily Be Exploited (Data & Society, 2019).

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  3. Breakstone, J. et al. Harv. Kennedy Sch. Misinformation Rev. 2, 1–17 (2021).

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