“Understanding the Context Around Content: Looking behind Misinformation Narratives” for the National Endowment for Democracy
In this paper for the National Endowment for Democracy, Laura Livingston highlights the offline, contextual dynamics that contribute to the resonance, spread, and impact of online misinformation, and implications for civil society responses. Access the full paper here.
“Misinformation, while normally consumed online, is not purely an online problem. Offline dynamics like intergroup tensions, competing world views, and institutional distrust compounds, reinforces, and amplifies the particular features of social media that serve to spread misinformation. Solutions to curtail the spread of disinformation need to account for the offline context that fuels online content.”