Interesting news out today from Google, which is expanding its fledgling “prebunking” program—for combating misinformation—into Germany after a trial run in Eastern Europe.
Prebunking is a concept that’s several years old, and it’s based on inoculation theory. Instead of merely trying to debunk misinformation that’s already gone viral, the idea is to give people tips on how to spot the sorts of misinformation that they are likely to encounter, so they’re primed to be less susceptible to it. Think of it as a psychological vaccine, in this case, administered via ads on platforms including Google’s own YouTube, as well as Facebook and TikTok—here’s an example from Poland, attempting to steer people away from the false but fast-moving narrative that Ukrainian refugees are being treated better than Polish citizens.
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