According to Sander van der Linden, “Misinformation spreads like a virus, spreading across social media faster and farther than factual stories.” Climate change, for example, has been one of the biggest issues for decades. However, numerous people still have a hard time believing that humans are causing global warming, even though “more than 97% of climate scientists” have gathered data that humans are indeed responsible. People who create false information, base it on the fact that the human brain can only process a certain amount of information within a limited amount of time. In a research group led by John Cook, they exploited a “real-life disinformation campaign: the so-called Oregon Petition” with a document they wrote called “counter-brief” and surveyed citizens about whether or not they believed that humans are causing global warming. Then, the research group presented their other document “truth brief” containing undeniable facts.
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