Does incentivization promote sharing “true” content online?

Abstract

In an online experiment in India, incentives for sharing factual posts increased sharing compared to no incentivization. However, the type of incentive (monetary or social) did not influence sharing behavior in a custom social media simulation. Curbing misinformation may not require substantial monetary resources; in fact, social media platforms can devise ways to socially incentivize their users for being responsible netizens who share true information. Results of the study point to the need for further analysis through real-world experiments on how effective social incentivization systems can be put in place.