Fighting Fakes on WhatsApp—Audience Perspectives on Fact Bots as Countermeasures

Bibliographic Data

ID22010653
AuthorsLena Frischlich (0000-0001-5039-5301, University of Southern Denmark, corresponding author), Johanna Klapproth (0009-0009-0912-7036, University of Münster), Sara Frank (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Mara Heckmann (0000-0002-0114-8184, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Susanne Elizabeth Kunze (Department of Communication, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany), Susanne Kunze (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Thalía Murgas (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Year2024
Volume12
Issue5
Pages700-720
Publication date2024-05-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDigital Journalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2167-0811 • E-ISSN: 2167-082X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21670811.2024.2341299
OpenAlexW4398236450
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited70

The messengerization of society and the rise of meso-communication spaces have created new opportunity structures for spreading misinformation. Countermeasures in this context must meet other privacy standards than, for instance, journalist fact-checking or community management on more public social media spaces. In this article, we are specifically interested in audience perspectives on fact-check delivering bots to counter misinformation thriving in meso spaces on instant messengers. Despite initial journalistic projects, there is scarce knowledge of audience perspectives on such fact bots in private and meso-spaces. The current study sought to fill this gap and describe the themes and beliefs characterizing instant messenger users’ considerations of fact bots. To this end, we conducted explorative qualitative interviews (N = 18) with a heterogeneous group of German instant messenger users. We identified four central themes in interviewees’ considerations of employing fact bots: questionable advantages in terms of ease, perceived usefulness for educating others, perceived injunctive norms between safety and privacy, and distrust towards information curators. We describe these themes using the technology acceptance model as an organizing framework. Overall, our study provides meaningful starting points for further research and practitioners fighting misinformation in the messengerized society with its increased digital meso spaces

Business · Internet privacy · Media studies · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · World Wide Web · Advanced Malware Detection Techniques · Computer Science · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Spam and Phishing Detection

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access