Researchers studied how social media users interact with warning signs by implementing two new methods of tracking user engagement with warnings against disinformation on social media. They found that contextual warnings (do not interrupt users) are less effective than interstitial warnings (require users to stop and interact). Research questions:
- After encountering contextual and interstitial disinformation warnings, how often do users change their behavior by opting for alternative sources of information?
- Why do some users choose not to change their behaviors after encountering contextual and interstitial disinformation warnings?
- Can interstitial warnings that are highly informative effectively change user behavior?
- Can interstitial warnings that are highly threatening effectively change user behavior? 

Adapting Security Warnings to Counter Misinformation

This node classifies academic literature and research on misinformation on social media. It categorizes studies exploring warning systems (contextual vs. interstitial), user trustworthiness evaluations, layperson-based algorithm downranking, rumor minimization, and news verification mechanisms on social platforms.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Google

Much of the information that is spread and disseminated through different social media platforms every day contains misinformation and rumors, causing the public to have varying perceptions and beliefs regarding the same topic. To combat this problem, researchers have been attempting to minimize misinformation on social media through a variety of methods such as rating algorithms, trustworthy/untrustworthy ratings, warning tags, and many others. 

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