A new study found that reporting false and ‘fake’ content might actually reduce the amount it is shared across social media.
In the current climate of distrust within media outlets and a noticeable decrease in media literacy, fake news has been a heated discussion across social media for the past few years. The spread of false information might finally have a solution with the ability for users to flag the content, thus reducing it’s distribution across internet platforms.
Paul Mena, Academic Researcher, explains, "This study found that the flagging of false news had a significant effect on reducing false news sharing intentions. The study showed that respondents who saw a fabricated Facebook post with a warning label had lower intentions to share that content than those who did not see the flag."