The findings, which appear in the journal PNAS Nexus, also indicate that current methods to combat the spread of misinformation are likely not viable—and that the most effective way to address it is to implement interventions quickly and to target them toward users most likely to be vulnerable to these falsehoods. “Because these extreme users also tend to see misinformation early on, current social media interventions often struggle to curb its impact—they are typically too slow to prevent exposure among those most receptive to it,” adds Zeve Sanderson, executive director of CSMaP.
