Christians Are Often Victims of Conspiracy Theories, Health Falsehoods businessinsider.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from businessinsider.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A recent study found that disinformation reaches people six times faster than factually accurate news. This is because fake stories are more likely to be spread by humans and not bots. Bots are just as likely to spread a real story as a fake one. Humans, on the other hand, like spreading sensational, unique, and headline-grabbing stories. Social psychologists [PDF] confirm that when a person’s beliefs are reinforced with misleading or false facts, figures, and claims, the information source is unlikely to be questioned. Furthermore, any attempt to refute the false information once an opinion has been formed may only result in reinforcing the views for those individuals with the strongest ideological beliefs.