I fully agree with Neil’s comment: the best (unique) way to protect people against misinformation is to help them differentiate reliable information from misinformation, through the availability of a reliable information that will increase their health literacy. I recommend the recent article “Psychological inoculation improves resilience against misinformation on social media by Roozenbeek and al. (https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abo6254). The authors remind how debunking misinformation is problematic and propose a “prebunking” approach.
It is also remarkable that among the 4 key points listed by WHO, none recommends to evaluate the real impact of misinformation on people. The studies on this impact are very rare and the reliable ones I have been able to find show that it is moderate or very low. As a matter of fact, the social networks carry accurate information as well as erroneous one. Today, through their smartphones people living in remote areas (such as rural villages in Africa) are able to read reliable articles and watch videos (TV news from the US, the UK, France) on health topics. Why should be presume that people are stupid enough to favor wrong information?
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HIFA profile: Bernard Seytre is a Consultant at BNSCommunication in France. Professional interests: Health communication and education. Email address: seytre AT bnscom.fr
