David Bridges
Google is working with social scientists from Cambridge University, experimenting on a feature called ‘pre-bunking’. As the name suggests, Google is attempting to get ahead of misleading narratives and debunk the lies before they can spread further.
According to an NBC report, Google, in collaboration with Cambridge University’s Social Decision-Making Lab in an experiment showed 90-second cartoons and advertisements to test subjects, explaining in cohesive language, some common manipulation techniques.
The study published in the journal Science Advances showed that the cartoons successfully raised the test subject’s awareness about certain misinformation tactics, albeit for a short time.
Jon Roozenbeek, the lead author of the study stated that words like ‘fact-checking’ had become politicised in recent times and thus the social media companies needed to find an alternative.
“Words like ‘fact-checking’ themselves are becoming politicized, and that’s a problem, so you need to find a way around that.” said Joe.
Encouraged by the findings of the experiment, Google is using this approach in Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. However, the Silicon Valley giant does not have any plans, yet, to push similar ‘pre-bunk’ videos in the US ahead of the midterm elections.
It is pertinent to note that Google is not the only platform to use ‘pre-bunking’ as a means to inoculate people against manipulation.
Twitter will use pre-bunk approach in the midterm election
As reported by WION, ahead of the crucial November midterm election in the US, Twitter, in a blog post earlier this month announced a series of steps it was taking to combat misinformation.
Twitter stated that it was reactivating its Civic Integrity Policy, under which tweets with misleading claims intended to undermine public confidence in an election will be labelled with links to credible information or helpful context.
Read more: Ahead of US midterms, Twitter announces the use of labels yet again to tackle misinformation
The microblogging platform also talked about pre-bunking and how it was making a comeback in the November election.
“We’re also bringing back prebunks, in English, Spanish, and all other languages supported on Twitter — to get ahead of misleading narratives on Twitter, and to proactively address topics that may be the subject of misinformation. Over the coming months, we’ll place prompts directly on people’s timelines in the US and in Search when people type related terms, phrases, or hashtags.” read Twitter’s blogpost.
The announcement by Twitter, however, was met with criticism from a certain faction. Some experts argued that in an attempt to get ahead of the alleged ‘lies’ the social media giants could once again act as the judge, jury and executioner.
Meanwhile, others are sceptical that pre-bunking may not have any effect on the ground as the quantity of misleading content dwarfs any pre-bunking exercise started by tech giants.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Mason Thompson
Sophie Langley
