The Landscape of User-centered Misinformation Interventions - A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Misinformation is one of the key challenges facing society today. User-centered misinformation interventions as digital countermeasures that exert a direct influence on users represent a promising means to deal with the large amounts of information available. While an extensive body of research on this topic exists, researchers are confronted with a diverse research landscape spanning multiple disciplines. This review systematizes the landscape of user-centered misinformation interventions to facilitate knowledge transfer, identify trends, and enable informed decision-making. Over 6,000 scholarly publications were screened, and a systematic literature review ( N=172 ) was conducted. A taxonomy was derived regarding intervention design (e.g., labels, showing indicators of misinformation, corrections, removal, or visibility reduction of content), user interaction (active or passive), and timing (e.g., pre or post exposure to misinformation or on request of the user). We provide a structured overview of approaches across multiple disciplines and derive six overarching challenges for future research regarding transferability of approaches to (1) novel platforms and (2) emerging video- and image-based misinformation, the sensible combination of automated mechanisms with (3) human experts and (4) user-centered feedback to facilitate comprehensibility, (5) encouraging media literacy without misinformation exposure, and (6) adequately addressing particularly vulnerable users such as older people or adolescents.