Sharing discernment can be approached by understanding how well interventions, such as accuracy prompts, can contribute to thre rise in quality (quality includes accuracy) of the news that users of online platforms share with one another. This is calculated by looking at the difference of sharing intentions for accurate news and sharing intentions of inaccurate news. A higher value is evidence of a relatively higher rate of accurate news being shared while a lower value is indicative of the opposite. 

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

In an accuracy prompt, an individual is prompted to actively think about accuracy as a concept prior to being exposed to the piece of information that they are to evaluate (ex. news headline). Accuracy prompts are particularly useful because they are proactive rather than reactive, thus they can help prevent the sharing of misinformation in the first place in addition to avoidaing a reliance on tech companies/government regulators to be doing the discerning of whether or not a piece of information is accurate. Accuracy prompts have been shown to result in a significant increase in helping to proactively reduce the spread of misinformation, evident by the 71.7% increase in sharing discernment following the use of accuracy prompts. 

Solution to Misinformation: Accuracy Prompts

Sharing Discernment 

This refers to the intentions behind the media/news-sharing actions of users on online platforms. Many participants of the study agreed that sharing only news that was factual was important, but their intentions did not match their ability to correctly and accurately differentiate factual vs. false information. 

Sharing Intentions

1. Evaluation
2. Importance
3. Norms
4. Public Service Announcement (PSA)
5. Reason
6. Tips

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