Others Are to Blame: Whom People Consider Responsible For Online Misinformation

Video

DOI

Determining who is responsible for online misinformation is an important problem. This research offers a multi-faceted view of the public's perception of who is responsible for online misinformation. We surveyed how people attribute responsibility separately for creating, disseminating, and failing to prevent false information online via two studies. Study 1 (N=99) employed a mixed-methods approach to identify a series of actors deemed responsible for each aspect of misinformation. Its open-ended methodology suggested a tendency for externalization of responsibility, which we explored further in the subsequent study. Study 2 (N=496) found that the responsible entities differ for the three distinct aspects of misinformation; for instance, people, news media, and interest groups were associated with creating falsehoods, whereas social media platforms were predominantly seen as accountable for failing to prevent them. Our results show that the blame goes towards those on the opposite side of the political spectrum, revealing substantial polarization. Most critically, our study found that participants do not associate themselves with online misinformation and externalize responsibility towards "other users." We discuss implications, including the need for promoting personal accountability among users and the social demand for accountable social media platforms and news media.