Toolbox of Interventions Against Online Misinformation

The spread of misinformation through media and social networks threatens many aspects of society, including public health and the state of democracies. One approach to mitigating the impact of misinformation focuses on individual-level interventions, equipping the public and policy-makers with essential tools to curb the spread and influence of falsehoods. Here we introduce a toolbox of individual-focused interventions aimed at reducing harm from online misinformation. Comprising an up-to-date account of the interventions featured in 81 scientific papers from across the globe, the toolbox is a resource for scientists, policymakers, and the public. It provides both a conceptual overview of the breadth of interventions—including their target, scope, and examples—and a summary of the empirical evidence supporting the interventions—including the methods and experimental paradigms used to test them. The toolbox covers nine categories of interventions: accuracy prompts, debunking and rebuttals, friction, inoculation, lateral reading and verification strategies, media-literacy tips, social norms, source-credibility labels, and warning and fact-checking labels.