The Local Ingredients That Fuel Misinformation
Factors like high unemployment, limited educational opportunity and the absence of local newspapers can predict the places where despair leads to extremism.
Jefferson County, West Virginia, is less prone to misinformation thanks to factors like high college enrollment and low poverty rates.
Photographer: Robert Knopes/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Already this election season, voters have encountered the malicious use of artificial intelligence to sway their behaviors. Yet AI-generated misinformation comprises just a fraction of all contested online information flagged by users. Although regulating Big Tech is important, the intense fixation on technology’s role can overshadow broader societal and behavioral interventions that can help curb the appeal of deceptive content. One such overlooked target: despair in local communities.
Recent research by neurologists now finds clear linkages between the US crisis of despair and vulnerability to misinformation. Factors that underpin despair can make individuals more susceptible to extremism; they can also make entire towns, counties and regions more prone to radicalization and violence. Social exclusion, poor mental health and exploitative work environments contribute to these patterns.