A survey of expert views on misinformation: Definitions, determinants, solutions, and future of the field

Sacha Altay*, Manon Berriche, Hendrik Heuer, Johan Farkas, Steven Rathje

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)
55 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

We surveyed 150 academic experts on misinformation and identified areas of expert consensus. Experts
defined misinformation as false and misleading information, though views diverged on the importance of
intentionality and what exactly constitutes misinformation. The most popular reason why people believe
and share misinformation was partisanship, while lack of education was one of the least popular reasons.
Experts were optimistic about the effectiveness of interventions against misinformation and supported
system-level actions against misinformation, such as platform design changes and algorithmic changes.
The most agreed-upon future direction for the field of misinformation was to collect more data outside of
the United States.
Original languageEnglish
JournalHarvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review
Volume4
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)1-34
Number of pages34
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Keywords

  • Faculty of Humanities
  • Faculty of Social Sciences

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