Miriam Metzger on credibility

What can credibility research teach us about fake news and how to combat it?

Digital information and communication technologies pose new challenges for people to evaluate information. Yet determining the credibility of information circulated online is critical, especially as the Internet has become the primary source of information on most topics for most people, and because the Internet has arguably increased the amount of misinformation available and facilitated its spread in society. Professor Metzger has been studying issues surrounding the credibility of information online for the last 20 years.

Her talk will discuss how and why digital media complicate credibility and its evaluation, the extent to which people find online information to be credible, are able to judge online information credibility appropriately, and the degree to which people believe in misinformation they encounter online. In particular, she will discuss the social and psychological processes that impede people’s ability to judge information credibility correctly.Finally, she will outline how research on credibility can help in the fight against misinformation and fake news. 

About Professor Miriam Metzger

Professor Metzger’s research interests lie at the intersection of media, information technology, and trust, centering on how information and communication technologies (ICTs) alter our understandings of credibility, privacy, and the processes of media effects. Her work examines questions about how ICTs challenge traditional notions of trust, with a focus on the credibility of information online and on how users of digital media negotiate privacy and disclosure decisions in light of these challenges to trust. She has also published work examining the impact of media messages on public opinion, and on the social, theoretical, and regulatory changes brought about by digital information and communication technologies.