2024 is a busy year for democracy! More countries will hold elections this year that at any point in the next two decades to come. So perhaps more than ever, it’s critical that we take a look at the growing amount of misinformation that threatens to influence or subvert these elections.

In this episode of Click to Trust, TrustLab’s own Xiaolin Zhuo about the European Union’s Code of Practice on Disinformation. The Code of Practice is a first-of-its-kind study that measures the prevalence and sources of misinformation across major social platforms.In our conversation, Xiaolin shared her team’s findings on online misinformation and the impact the Code of Practice can have on slowing down the spread of misinformation online.

Highlights:

• Takeaway One: Combating misinformation requires a joint efforts between governments, social platforms, and civil groups under frameworks like the EU’s Code of Practice.
• Takeaway Two: Platforms with lower discoverability rates of misinformation might still experience high engagement rates on those posts.
• Takeaway Three: Misinformation and the way it is disseminated will continue to change due to technological advancements.

Jump Into the Conversation:

[05:27 ] TrustLab’s study shows multiple metrics with unexpected platform patterns.

[11:50 ] Data helps combat misinformation by giving users an understanding of where information is coming from.

16:47 Addressing misinformation in EU requires education and collaboration between platforms and users.