Misinformation issue: Truthful yet misleading Facebook posts drove COVID vaccine reluctance much more than outright lies

Study: Truthful yet misleading Facebook posts drove COVID vaccine reluctance much more than outright lies did Today in Science, a study shows that unflagged, factual but misleading Facebook posts reduced the intent to receive the COVID-19 vaccine 46 times more than did false posts flagged by fact-checkers as misinformation, which the authors say points to the need to consider the reach and impact of content rather than just its veracity. CIDRAP

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The researchers, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), surveyed thousands of participants about the influence of the headlines from 130 vaccine-related news stories on their intent to vaccinate. They also asked a separate group of people to rate the headlines on attributes such as plausibility and political bent.

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