A study evaluated the confusion-based account by observing the correlation between perceived accuracy and information sharing in headlines of varied accuracy. Despite true headlines being rated as accurate more often than false headlines, factors other than accuracy (such as political concordance) influenced sharing behaviors more than accuracy did. This suggests that the confusion-based account does not sufficiently describe misinformation sharing.

Confusion-Based Account and Sharing Discernment

The confusion-based account of social media misinformation sharing proposes that people share misinformation because they accidentally believe that the misinformation is accurate.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 - Confusion-based account
 - Inattention-based account
 - Preference-based account

Theories of Social Media Misinformation Sharing

Pennycook, G., Epstein, Z., Mosleh, M., Arechar, A. A., Eckles, D., & Rand, D. G. (2021). Shifting attention to accuracy can reduce misinformation online. Nature, 592(7855), 590–595. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03344-2

Shifting attention to accuracy can reduce misinformation online

Confusion-Based Account of Social Media Misinformation Sharing

The preference-based account of social media misinformation sharing proposes that people knowingly share misinformation because they care less about accuracy than other factors. 

Preference-Based Account of Social Media Misinformation Sharing

Misinformation can spread because people are distracted by information other than accuracy. Some of these could include: party alignment, social relevance, or social reinforcement. 

Inattention-Based Account of Misinformation

A survey quantifying the relative contribution of the confusion-based, preference-based and inattention-based accounts to the willingness to share false headlines on social media found that the inattention-based account explains 51.2% of sharing, the confusion-based account explains 33.1% of sharing, and the preference-based account explains 15.8% of sharing. 

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