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Following tech giant Meta’s announcement of the end of its fact-checking programme, fears are rising that false and often deliberately misleading information will proliferate further on its platforms, with potentially devastating effects on the platforms’ most vulnerable users.

This could have serious consequences in those low- and middle-income countries in which populations are quickly coming online without the digital media literacy skills to interpret that content – and in which, often, Facebook is still the first and main introduction to the internet.

Already we have seen that information disorder – or the toxic combination of polluting our information environments – has become one of the defining challenges of the information age. Advances in technology, increasing access to both traditional and social media, and changes in how people interact with information are propelling the spread of false information at a speed and scale not seen before. This has resulted in dangerously polluted information ecosystems, leaving people making critical decisions about their lives and livelihoods with a lack of reliable information.

Knowing the impact - but unable to act

Addressing these threats requires deep understanding of how information disorder is experienced by these audiences, and how it impacts them. Our research findings to date have been clear: audiences are increasingly aware of the negative impacts of information disorder on their lives, but often do not feel equipped to respond effectively.

For example, our focus group participants in both Ethiopia and Zambia said mis- and disinformation was contributing to conflict between religious or ethnic groups, political instability and a breakdown of trust, while hindering community development. In Somalia, some respondents said they experienced stress, depression and anger after falling for scams or other misinformation.

Addressing these challenges requires understanding. While we have come a long way in understanding information disorder, there is still work to do. We’re focusing on four key areas to fill the gaps:

• A focus on low and middle-income countries: Much of the research being done in this space focuses mainly on wealthy nations, and excludes , a gap that ´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action is working to fill. We are currently conducting research in a variety of countries, contexts and platforms - from the Solomon Islands to Libya - helping to shed light on how information disorder manifests in these areas.
• Talking in-depth with, and listening to, real people: Most existing research into information disorder is heavily focused on computational and quantitative research, with only a small portion of research using qualitative or mixed methods approaches. ´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action is building on existing qualitative and mixed methods research where we work, aiming to add key missing elements to this body of work. This includes work in Indonesia and Nepal that combines nationally representative surveys, focus groups, social media analysis, and broadcast media monitoring – in collaboration with ´óÏó´«Ã½ Monitoring. These innovative projects go a long way to fill gaps in understanding both how audiences perceive information disorder as well as the information environment they interact with.
• Understanding what the audience understands: Many studies into the prevalence of information disorder collect data on how respondents feel they can identify mis- and disinformation. Increasingly, our research is also testing audiences’ ability to differentiate between true and false information, providing valuable insights into how effectively audiences can do this and how their ability differs with their perceptions
• Learning what works: We are conducting research to better understand which responses to information disorder are most effective. For instance, we are running trials in North Africa to test interventions like , which suggests that audiences can be ‘immunised’ against false and misleading information with content that addresses common false narratives and techniques. Since such interventions are often only tested in wealthier countries, we aim to address this gap by exploring how they can be more effectively adapted to different contexts and markets, including in low- and middle-income countries.

Thanks to our history working in often under-researched countries across the globe, and our ability to reach marginalised audiences, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action is working to fill gaps in in the understanding of information disorder. This includes shedding light on how this phenomenon manifests in different contexts around the world, as well as innovating in our methods to improve how we understand its impacts.

Our learning informs all our programming – from journalist training and mentoring, to digital media literacy content, to further research – ultimately aiming to improve the information environments and daily lives of the audiences we serve. This learning, and this work, has never been more needed.

Read more about the research we’ve done across the globe here.