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Report
Misinformation in Social Media: The Role of Verification Incentives
We develop a model in which the prevalence and sharing of misinformation endogenously arise from the interaction between (i) users’ decisions to verify and share news of unknown truthfulness and (ii) producers’ choices to generate fake content. We use the model to examine how policies intended to combat misinformation affect users’ incentives to engage in costly news verification. Via this channel, unintended effects may emerge from: lowering verification costs borne by users; disrupting the supply of fake content; and introducing imperfect filters. We provide sensitivity measures, akin ...
Discussion Paper
Breaking Down the Market for Misinformation
The spread of misinformation online has been recognized as a growing social problem. In responding to the issue, social media platforms have (i) promoted the services of third-party fact-checkers; (ii) removed producers of misinformation and downgraded false content; and (iii) provided contextual information for flagged content, empowering users to determine the veracity of information for themselves. In a recent staff report, we develop a flexible model of misinformation to assess the efficacy of these types of interventions. Our analysis focuses on how well these measures incentivize users ...