While online racism and online misinformation have clear connections, research in these related areas have tended to remain separate. This study bridges this gap, by testing a new intervention approach to countering online misinformation that perpetuates racism. The study draws on both online misinformation studies and critical literacy perspectives, and generates new understandings of the effectiveness of existing interventions from these fields, for addressing racist misinformation. The intervention was tested via a national survey of Australian adults (N = 2001) conducted in March 2025. The study examined the effectiveness of two forms of ‘inoculation’ interventions to counter the spread of misinformation. This first ever Australian study adapted approaches deployed by Hughes et al. (2021) and Lewandowsky and Yesilada (2021). Both of the videos taught participants techniques for identifying misinformation with examples, and to reduce the participants’ likelihood of sharing misinformation. The first intervention focused on techniques for detecting general misinformation, reflecting a ‘broad spectrum’ inoculation approach to misinformation. The second intervention provided education on how to detect specifically racist misinformation which is designed to perpetuate racist narratives. The study also examined the extent to which these two interventions can counter everyday racism as it emerges in online misinformation contexts. The findings indicate that, in some cases, misinformation training may be more effective when contextualised within specific misinformation topics and narratives — including racist narratives. Significantly, this suggests that there may be important limitations to consider regarding ‘broad spectrum’ or generalisable approaches to ‘inoculation’ against misinformation.

Authors:
Nida Denson, Western Sydney University, Australia
Alexandra Lee, Western Sydney University, Australia
Alanna Kamp, Western Sydney University, Australia
Rachel Sharples, Western Sydney University, Australia
Kevin Dunn, Western Sydney University, Australia

About the Presenter(s)
Nida Denson is a Professor at Western Sydney University. She led this project which aimed to ‘inoculate’ Australians against racist misinformation, funded by the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies (https://www.crisconsortium.org/).

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nida-denson-00871b153/

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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