There has been a rise in the prevalence of social media disorder characterised by misinformation, propaganda, and other forms of information manipulation. Misinformation may be generated and disseminated via social media platforms, especially during important events that profoundly affect our society as well as citizen well-being. Academic research provides enough evidence of the detrimental effects of utilising social media to disseminate misinformation, resulting in adverse outcomes that lead to harmful consequences for citizens. Thus, combating social media misinformation is the groundwork for citizen well-being.

Social media platforms are now struggling to determine their responsibility in mitigating the spread of misinformation in several contexts, including pandemic situations, unstable political situations, community clashes and national elections among others. Although sophisticated misinformation campaigns create serious challenges in social systems, both regulatory authorities and social media platforms are confronted with fundamental difficulties due to the enormous volume, rapid dissemination, and growing complexity of online misinformation.

Social media platforms are extensively used, serving as a means for delivering evidence-based information. However, they also facilitate the rapid spread of misinformation, particularly during major circumstances. To effectively combat the spread of misinformation during major, it is necessary to adopt an integrated strategy that combines multiple facets, including citizen awareness, the responsibility of social media platforms, control of the regulatory body, and civil society’s involvement.

Social media platforms and regulatory bodies have the potential to establish a centralized trusted network and reliable news hub. In this scenario, the social media platform should address and reduce the algorithmic bias that currently exists across several social media platforms. Though algorithmic bias is an inherent feature of social media news feeds, it may become oversaturated with biased algorithms amplifying the same content that individuals are tuned to browse.

Additionally, AI-based recommender systems may serve as a method to enhance the verification process of online information. Unfortunately, concurrent circumstances have made it challenging to train simple machine learning and deep learning models. It is also cost and time-effective. As a result, AI-enabled recommender systems struggle to combat misinformation dissemination in social media news feeds.

Therefore, it is crucial to establish a regional AI-human interaction unit to ensure the dissemination of reliable and trustworthy information. In AI-human interactive systems, AI can detect disinformation, and subject to the present circumstances, the human unit may decide whether or not to recommend posting it in the news feed.

Furthermore, although social media platforms and regulatory authorities have significant responsibility in curbing the spread of misinformation on social media, we must not disregard the accountability of end-users. End-users have a vital role in combatting social media misinformation, and they may undertake various tasks to contribute to a more robust digital information ecosystem.

End-user upholds their habit of verifying information (fact-check habit) before sharing it on social media. Carefully, they need to verify the accuracy of a post on social media before sharing it. Additionally, end-users need to embrace a “responsible sharing” approach toward information sharing, considering the accuracy, relevance, and beneficial impact of the content on online discussion forums. Be extra cautious when experiencing rapidly spreading information, particularly if it seems alarming or politically incurred. Posting and sharing viral content without fact-checking may lead to the spread of misinformation.

Given cognitive behaviour oftentimes, citizens exhibit excitement, strong emotions, and political beliefs, among others, neglecting to allocate time for verifying facts before sharing information on their social media platforms. Emotional reactions may impact how quickly people are influenced by misinformation, and other elements, such as political, social, and economic circumstances, may affect the patterns of spending on misinformation on social media. For instance, heightened emotions and excitement can inhibit logical thought and lead citizens to accept and disseminate information without thoroughly reviewing it.

It is crucial to acknowledge that social media usage is not inherently detrimental, as it has the potential to enhance social interactions with others, knowledge-acquiring avenues, and third-generation news media platforms. However, its effect is conditional upon the end-user traits and how various social media platforms are being used. Given the concerns regarding the influence of biased algorithms on social media usage behaviour and the potential adverse impact caused by social media misinformation, the importance of promoting social media literacy is crucial.

Social media literacy refers to understanding and effectively utilizing social media platforms in various contexts. Fact-checking, promoting trustworthy, reliable, and accurate information, individual and community reporting systems on misinformation, avoiding the “echo chambers” of social media, and controlling conspiracy mentality are the major catalysts of combating social media misinformation.

Last but not least, combating misinformation requires collaborative efforts involving multiple parties, where individual activities collectively enhance the reliability and knowledge of the web community. By exercising these liabilities, social media platforms, regulatory bodies, and individuals may contribute to shaping a responsible sharing digital environment that contributes to citizen well-being. More specifically, by utilising these strategies, several stakeholders can establish a stronger healthy information atmosphere during important events like national elections.
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The writer is an Assistant Professor, BRAC Business School, BRAC University