TITLE:
Modeling the Social Reinforcement of Misinformation Dissemination on Social Media
AUTHORS:
Ashleigh T. Aston
KEYWORDS:
Social Reinforcement Learning, Misinformation Online, Computational Models of Cognition
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science,
Vol.12 No.11,
November
7,
2022
ABSTRACT: Despite the salience of misinformation and its consequences, there still lies a tremendous gap in research on the broader tendencies in collective cognition that compels individuals to spread misinformation so excessively. This study examined social learning as an antecedent of engaging with misinformation online. Using data released by Twitter for academic research in 2018, Tweets that included URL news links of both known misinformation and reliable domains were analyzed. Lindström’s computational reinforcement learning model was adapted as an expression of social learning, where a Twitter user’s posting frequency of news links is dependent on the relative engagement they receive in consequence. The research found that those who shared misinformation were highly sensitive to social reward. Inflation of positive social feedback was associated with a decrease in posting latency, indicating that users that posted misinformation were strongly influenced by social learning. However, the posting frequency of authentic news sharers remained fixed, even after receiving an increase in relative and absolute engagement. The results identified social learning is a contributor to the spread of misinformation online. In addition, behavior driven by social validation suggests a positive correlation between posting frequency, gratification received from posting, and a growing mental health dependency on social media. Developing interventions for spreading misinformation online may profit by assessing which online environments amplify social learning, particularly the conditions under which misinformation proliferates.