Doing What Is Right: Role of Social Media Users in Resilience to Disinformation

Resilience to disinformation on social media relies on the user’s ability to critically assess disinformation and even counter it. Active users, who, with their actions, can curate the information environment of others, can play a crucial role in stopping the dissemination of disinformation. Their activities, such as correcting or reporting, in the decentralized social media environment may prove more effective than institutional responses. Considering this, the study looks specifically at how active users engage with disinformation. Through 60 semi-structured interviews over 3 years, we explore how crises like COVID-19 and the Russia–Ukraine war impact Czech users’ motivations and strategies. Findings indicate that users are driven by a moral obligation to provide accurate information. Both people sharing and correcting disinformation believe in their critical skills, with their desire to help amplified by crises. However, the ones correcting often face frustration and demotivation due to hostile interactions and a lack of visible impact, while the ones sharing remain persistent. Strategies are influenced by the perceptions of the individuals and the type of disinformation. Completely false information is often ignored as not worth debunking, whereas partially false information prompts active correction due to the perceived ease of rebuttal. The study highlights the need for social media platforms to support users in corrective actions and address algorithmic issues that may impede these efforts.