Breaking Down the Market for Misinformation

Created
Mon, 28/11/2022 - 23:00
Updated
Wed, 21/12/2022 - 07:36
The spread of misinformation online has been recognized as a growing social problem. In responding to the issue, social media platforms have (i) promoted the services of third-party fact-checkers; (ii) removed producers of misinformation and downgraded false content; and (iii) provided contextual information for flagged content, empowering users to determine the veracity of information for themselves. In a recent staff report, we develop a flexible model of misinformation to assess the efficacy of these types of interventions. Our analysis focuses on how well these measures incentivize users to verify the information they encounter online.

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