Prebunking False Information

Disinformation is like a virus

By Anne Stone

Disinformation/Misinformation spreads like a virus. The News Literacy Project’s (NLP) Dr. Sander Van der Lin uses this analogy to help students understand how disinformation spreads, and what we can do to stop it.

Asymptomatic people, it turns out, are great spreaders. They spread without always meaning to spread or even realizing that they are spreading misinformation. They may believe the information they are spreading, or they may be trying to tell others that the information is false. Either way, by repeating the information they are in fact reinforcing it.

Using the virus analogy, we can help inoculate people by “prebunking” the misinformation. Fact checking alone doesn’t work. If you want to prebunk, start with the factual information, state the false information that is being spread once and only once, then repeat the factual information. The factual information has to be more prominent than the fake. Citing credible sources only helps if the person you are trying to inoculate agrees that the source is credible. This technique does help to sow doubt and doubt leads to questioning and questioning can lead to changes in belief. The next time you want to share that something is disinformation, try prebunking. It is the technique that is most likely to be effective.