A Nudge to Credible Information as a Countermeasure to Misinformation: Evidence from Twitter

Abstract

As people increasingly rely on social media to obtain healthcare information, misinformation, such as myths, rumors, and false information on healthcare, is posing a grave threat to public health. This paper investigates a potential remedy for such infodemic by examining a unique countermeasure that Twitter implemented. Instead of resorting to outright censorship, Twitter has taken a more nuanced approach: The platform has been nudging its users toward reputable sources whenever they seek out topics susceptible to misinformation. By analyzing the propagation of news articles that contain misinformation about health topics, we find that misinformation is less likely to initiate a diffusion process on Twitter since the inception of the policy. Moreover, tweets that include a link to misinformation articles are less likely to receive retweets, quotes, or replies. Furthermore, we find that the observed reduction is primarily driven by a decline in diffusion activities by human-like accounts rather than bot-like accounts. Our findings suggest that a misinformation policy that nudges platform users to a credible information source can help effectively curb misinformation diffusion. This approach may serve as a model for other platforms grappling with the challenge of misinformation in the digital age.