The Art and Science of Debunking Misinformation
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Today, misinformation is everywhere, and conspiracy thinking is front and center. Given that the information environment is going to be volatile in the near future, I wanted to summarize a valuable resource when engaging someone who believes misinformation: The Debunking Handbook 2020.
Debunking misinformation is a niche academic discipline which began in the context of climate myths. In 2020, twenty-two misinformation scholars compiled their work to write The Debunking Handbook. The handbook serves as a tool to guide potential debunkers through the process. While it was written in the context of 2020 to help combat COVID-19 and climate myths, the handbook is simply lays out best practices which are adaptable to different information contexts.
So, how should you approach someone when debunking information?
First, I want to emphasize that it’s your choice to debunk misinformation. You are not a bad person if you would rather just ignore it all. Personally, I prefer to just block or mute online accounts because trolls are not worth my time. I am more likely to debunk in person, however. So, these decisions can also be context dependent. Ultimately, however, the decision is yours alone.
If you do choose to engage someone who believes misinformation, your options are not simply a binary. You also get to choose when and how you reach out. The debunking handbook offers guidance on these decisions in the form of a decision tree:
An important feature of this decision tree is its right arm: If you are anticipating misinformation spread, then you should “prebunk” it. This just means warning people about which sources of information are reliable for the specific topic. For example, if debunking climate change myths then you can suggest the IPCC as valid source of information. Prebunking has been shown to be effective across misinformation topics by helping other people get in a critical mindset so that they can evaluate (rather than just believe) misinformation when it does appear.
An apt analogy for prebunking is (somewhat ironically) inoculation or vaccines. If someone has been exposed to warnings about misinformation, then they are more likely to discard it on their own accord - just like a vaccine exposes you to a disease-causing pathogen so that your body can effectively eliminate it when it encounters the pathogen again.
Often, however, the specifics of misinformation cannot be anticipated in advance, making prebunking difficult. The decision tree also has guidance for these situations. Essentially there are two important criteria that should be met before you debunk a piece of misinformation:
The belief is widespread in the population (and not just one person’s private conspiracy). It is nearly impossible to fight every battle, so choose yours wisely.
The person believing the misinformation has a concrete agenda which is supported by the misinformation itself. This qualification boils down to the potential for harm. The greater the harm, the greater the need to intervene.
One thing you shouldn’t be concerned about: backfire. Studies have routinely demonstrated that debunking rarely demonstrates a backfire effect where the other person leaves the interaction with even stronger devotion to the misinformation. In the cases where a backfire effect has been observed, the phenomenon appears to be more correlated with the reliability of the researchers’ methodology than an actual change in beliefs.
In what contexts would you feel comfortable debunking misinformation?
How would you go about it?
Now that you’re ready to debunk, you should know that not all debunking strategies are effective. Research suggests that giving your argument a specific structure helps to combat the psychological appeal of a misinformed narrative:
First, start by clearly stating the fact. If you can add some ~rhetorical flare~, amazing! Misinformation is tailored to be “sticky,” so providing the truth in a sticky way is most effective. Next you can explicitly introduce the myth. Repeat the misinformation only once, because of how sticky it is. Then explain the false logic of the myth, and finish by repeating the core fact. Depending on the specific falsehood, you may want to provide some background knowledge to fully debunk it.
Even if you follow this method exactly, there’s no guarantee that it will fully dissuade someone from believing the misinformation. If this happens to you, don’t take it personally. Some people are largely unpersuadable, and that’s not your fault. It’s also totally fine to continually debunk a myth with someone if you are structuring your arguments correctly. Misinformation gets repeated and repeated, so the truth should be too.
debunking on the internet
Debunking online can seem tricky because you can’t rely on tone or body language to gauge the success of your debunking. But, don’t let that dissuade you. Research suggests that you should remember the “social” part of social media in that online debunking has the potential to get more attention than an in-person interaction.
In fact, there are three important parties to an online debunking: you (the debunker), the person believing misinformation (with whom you will interact with directly), and every one who is watching. This last group is actually highly persuadable - meaning that online debunking actually works at the community level.
Observing someone else get corrected online is correlated with increasing attitudinal belief in the truth. Small interventions, like lightly asking someone to evaluate the accuracy of a news source, can discourage them from sharing misinformation in the future. Even if that person’s beliefs don’t change, this is still a major win because the false narrative has fewer chances to stick to other people in the online community.
One important factor that determines the level of debunking success online is the credibility of the debunker. If you have particular credentials that signify expertise on the specific topic, feel free to lean into those (e.g. “As a [credentialed expert], I can assure you that…”).
If you don’t have specialized training or knowledge on the topic, that’s ok! You can still debunk. I would just suggest that you supplement your debunking with links to high credibility sources.
Now, y’all are prepared to effectively debunk misinformation in person and online - should you choose to. The great thing about this framework is that it is readily adaptable to any misinformation context that the evil trolls can throw at us. Godspeed friends!
You can download the full Debunking Handbook 2020 from the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University.
