Researchers Find New Strategy to Fight Misinformation
2022-08-28
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1International researchers and experts at Google are working on a way to prevent false information about Ukrainian refugees from spreading in Eastern Europe.
2They call their effort "pre-bunking."
3The term comes from the word "debunking," which means to show that an idea is untrue.
4"Pre-" means before. In other words, the researchers aim to prevent misinformation from spreading in the first place.
5The idea of pre-bunking is to educate social media users so they can decide on their own if videos, website headlines and social media posts are false.
6The researchers started thinking about pre-bunking earlier this year, after thousands of people began fleeing Ukraine following Russia's invasion.
7The refugees went to places like Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
8As refugees arrived in these countries, false claims came with them.
9Many people saw social media posts about Ukrainians taking jobs, carrying out crimes and taking support from aid organizations even if they did not need it.
10There were even stories about Ukrainian refugees painting their national colors of blue and yellow on Polish statues.
11News reports later suggested the vandalism may have been done by pro-Russian groups hoping to create tension between Ukraine and Poland.
12In the past, it has been difficult to prevent this kind of false information from spreading.
13But the researchers say pre-bunking can help teach people to recognize misinformation.
14This, in turn, stops the wrong information from spreading.
15The researchers involved in the effort are from Cambridge and Bristol universities in Britain as well as the University of Western Australia.
16Their work appeared recently in the publication Science Advances.
17In the report, the researchers explain that short online videos that teach critical thinking skills can help people understand when they are being targeted with misinformation.
18The videos explain the common parts of a misinformation campaign.
19The researchers say the parts are emotional language, personal attacks and false comparisons between two unrelated things.
20People who looked at the examples in the videos improved their ability to tell the difference between true and false information.
21Google was also part of the study.
22The division that assisted in the study is called Jigsaw.
23Beth Goldberg is the head of research there.
24She said, "We spent quite a bit of time and energy studying the problem."
25The goal, she said, was to make internet users "more resilient to misinformation."
26The researchers are now working to see if the same users can be helped by seeing so-called "booster" videos.
27Booster videos are additional videos that could add to what the viewers have already learned.
28Google will work to show the videos on popular social media sites like YouTube, TikTok and Facebook in the European countries of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
29The leader of Google's Jigsaw group is Yasmin Green.
30She said the pre-bunking effort is supposed to work alongside Google's other efforts to prevent the spread of false information.
31She said her group wants to be sure people are "safe and informed online."
32The researchers looked at traditional efforts to fight against misinformation.
33They noted that they are not always effective.
34For example, they said the process of "fact-checking" by reporters can be helpful, but it takes a long time.
35In addition, the process known as content moderation, which is done by social media companies, can be uneven.
36They noted that Facebook and Twitter are often criticized for not doing enough to remove material that is false or in violation of their rules.
37Instead, the researchers think it is a better idea to give people the tools to look at the material and decide for themselves whether it is false.
38That helps people judge a wide amount of information.
39They also said that fact-checking by reporters can be ignored by people who do not trust some news organizations.
40I'm Caty Weaver.
1International researchers and experts at Google are working on a way to prevent false information about Ukrainian refugees from spreading in Eastern Europe. They call their effort "pre-bunking." 2The term comes from the word "debunking," which means to show that an idea is untrue. "Pre-" means before. In other words, the researchers aim to prevent misinformation from spreading in the first place. 3The idea of pre-bunking is to educate social media users so they can decide on their own if videos, website headlines and social media posts are false. 4The researchers started thinking about pre-bunking earlier this year, after thousands of people began fleeing Ukraine following Russia's invasion. The refugees went to places like Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 5As refugees arrived in these countries, false claims came with them. Many people saw social media posts about Ukrainians taking jobs, carrying out crimes and taking support from aid organizations even if they did not need it. 6There were even stories about Ukrainian refugees painting their national colors of blue and yellow on Polish statues. News reports later suggested the vandalism may have been done by pro-Russian groups hoping to create tension between Ukraine and Poland. 7In the past, it has been difficult to prevent this kind of false information from spreading. But the researchers say pre-bunking can help teach people to recognize misinformation. This, in turn, stops the wrong information from spreading. 8The researchers involved in the effort are from Cambridge and Bristol universities in Britain as well as the University of Western Australia. Their work appeared recently in the publication Science Advances. 9In the report, the researchers explain that short online videos that teach critical thinking skills can help people understand when they are being targeted with misinformation. 10The videos explain the common parts of a misinformation campaign. The researchers say the parts are emotional language, personal attacks and false comparisons between two unrelated things. 11People who looked at the examples in the videos improved their ability to tell the difference between true and false information. 12Google was also part of the study. The division that assisted in the study is called Jigsaw. Beth Goldberg is the head of research there. She said, "We spent quite a bit of time and energy studying the problem." The goal, she said, was to make internet users "more resilient to misinformation." 13The researchers are now working to see if the same users can be helped by seeing so-called "booster" videos. Booster videos are additional videos that could add to what the viewers have already learned. 14Google will work to show the videos on popular social media sites like YouTube, TikTok and Facebook in the European countries of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 15The leader of Google's Jigsaw group is Yasmin Green. She said the pre-bunking effort is supposed to work alongside Google's other efforts to prevent the spread of false information. She said her group wants to be sure people are "safe and informed online." 16The researchers looked at traditional efforts to fight against misinformation. They noted that they are not always effective. For example, they said the process of "fact-checking" by reporters can be helpful, but it takes a long time. In addition, the process known as content moderation, which is done by social media companies, can be uneven. They noted that Facebook and Twitter are often criticized for not doing enough to remove material that is false or in violation of their rules. 17Instead, the researchers think it is a better idea to give people the tools to look at the material and decide for themselves whether it is false. That helps people judge a wide amount of information. 18They also said that fact-checking by reporters can be ignored by people who do not trust some news organizations. 19I'm Caty Weaver. 20Dan Friedell adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by the Associated Press. 21_____________________________________________________________________ 22Words in This Story 23post-n. information that is put up for the public to see, such as a sign or a message on a website 24vandalism -n. the act of deliberately destroying or damaging property 25tension -n. a state in which people or groups disagree with each other and feel anger toward each other 26tactic -n. an action or method that is planned and used to achieve a particular goal 27resilient -adj. able to become healthy or strong again after something bad has happened 28moderation -n. the act of guiding a discussion involving a group of people, such as the users of a social media site 29We want to hear from you. Do you think you are able to recognize misinformation? 30We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 311. Write your comment in the box. 322. Under the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google. 333. Click on one image and a box appears. Enter the login for your social media account. Or you may create one on the Disqus system. It is the blue circle with "D" on it. It is free. 34Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.