The Gossip Economy of Online Social Media
Published in Proceedings of the 2021 ACM CHI Misinformation Workshop (Authors: Brett Bourbon and Renita Murimi), 2021
The spread of online misinformation should not be understood as a problem of false news, but rather of gossip run amok. Misinformation must be addressed as part of the social dynamics of groups. In this paper, we reformulate the notion of misinformation as part of a gossip economy. It highlights the logical similarities between misinformation and gossip, with consequences for how we combat online misinformation.