Recent research reveals false rumours really do travel faster and further than the truth by Craig Silverman.
From the post:
A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth has got its boots on, or so the saying goes, and new research has sought to prove just how long it takes fact checking to catch up.
On average, it takes more than 12 hours for a false claim to be debunked online, according to two recent projects that compared how falsehoods and truths spread.
One study analyzed rumors on Twitter and found that a rumor that turns out to be true is often resolved within two hours of first emerging. But a rumor that proves false takes closer to 14 hours to be debunked.
Another study looked at how long it took for a fact check or debunking article to be published as a counter measure to a fake story. It found “a characteristic lag of approximately 13 hours between the production of misinformation and that of fact checking”.
The studies used different methodologies and look at different elements of the online rumor and misinformation ecosystem. But they both provide evidence that falsehoods spread for hours and take hold online before being debunked.
Both research groups say their findings highlight the need for better — and especially faster — approaches to countering online misinformation.
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A counter-factual response to these reports would be the failure of false U.S. social media propaganda falling to truthful Islamic State reports. Why It’s So Hard to Stop ISIS Propaganda.
Or is it that U.S. government lies are so clumsy that they lack the punch of other falsehoods?
Or perhaps the U.S. government tells so many lies that it’s hard to judge the impact of only one?
Unless and until better/faster approaches “…to countering online misinformation” appear, consider how you can use the gap between rumor and correction to your advantage.
Is that arbitrage in truth?