‘Sharing of Misinformation is Habitual, Not Just Lazy or Biased ’
by Gizem Ceylan
Yale School of Management
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Abstract
Why do people share misinformation on social media? In this research (N = 2,476), we 33 show that individual deficits in critical reasoning and partisan bias—commonly cited drivers of 34 misinformation—are not as important as the structure of online sharing built into social 35 platforms. Due to the reward-based learning systems on social media, users form habits of 36 sharing information that gets recognition from others. Once habits form, information sharing is 37 automatically activated by cues on the platform without users considering critical response 38 outcomes, such as spreading misinformation. As a result of user habits, 30-40% of the false news 39 shared in our research was due to the 15% most habitual news sharers. Suggesting that sharing of 40 false news is part of a broader response pattern established by social media platforms, habitual 41 users also shared information that challenged their own political beliefs. Finally, we show that 42 sharing of false news is not an inevitable consequence of user habits: Social media sites could be 43 restructured to build habits to share accurate information. 44
Keywords: misinformation, habits, Facebook, social media, reward insensitivity
