Lies and manipulation on the internet – a professional shows two methods how you can effectively protect yourself against fake news

“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time,” declared US President Abraham Lincoln more than 150 years ago. Even though he was already aware of the influence of fake news on public opinion, he was confident enough to believe that the truth would ultimately prevail – at least among the majority of people. Can we still share this optimism in the age of Internet media that are susceptible to manipulation and their global networking?

Despite prominent experiences to the contrary, resignation is clearly out of place. A large number of scientific studies have recently examined the effects of fake news and developed effective antidotes.

The results are cause for concern, but they also show that we are by no means defenseless against the seductive power of fake news. And perhaps just reading this article can help you to react more consciously and resiliently in the future to campaigns that try to convince you of something you would never believe on your own.

FH-Prof. PD Dr. habil. Johannes Siebert is a decision scientist and behavioral economist at the MCI | The Entrepreneurial School® and a private lecturer at the University of Bayreuth. In his research, he examines human and organizational decision-making behavior and publishes his results in leading journals. He has worked on and managed research and consulting projects for national and international clients from business, politics and society.

When campaigns try to deceive us…

Anyone who starts a campaign to knowingly spread false information wants to determine, in their own interests, what we think about certain issues in society, the economy and politics and what conclusions we draw from them. The initiators of such campaigns take advantage of the fact that we very often absorb, evaluate and process new information unconsciously.

If their strategies are specifically aimed at manipulating these processes, they can significantly change our opinions. This is proven beyond doubt by the new study results and, unfortunately, by everyday experience. Manipulatively controlled opinions have a significant influence on people's decisions and actions – not least in politics when it comes to evaluating long-term goals and measures or voting in elections.

In addition, if fake news is spread with targeted frequency via social media, it can also influence people by giving them a distorted picture of the dominance of certain opinions in their own social environment.

If we believe that we are in a minority position, we are more likely to hold back on expressing our opinions publicly. In doing so, we unwittingly support the interests of the initiators, who are pursuing precisely this goal with their campaign.

Fact checks: effective, but not sufficient

There are now numerous media outlets and non-profit organizations in Germany that repeatedly succeed in exposing fake news through carefully researched fact checks. But even when they inform the public about it, there is usually still “something that sticks”.

The unconscious influence that an opinion created by fake news has on people's decisions and actions outlasts the information that it is fake news. This phenomenon is known in science as “belief perseverance bias”. It explains the lasting influence of campaigns and shows why fact-checking can only be the first step in the fight against the public effectiveness of misinformation. But what other tools are available?

There are various methods that have been proven to help weaken the belief perseverance bias and thus end the lasting effects of fake news. Experiments in which participants voluntarily exposed themselves to the influence of fake news and then to the counter-education procedures show that counter-speech (Counter speech) and awareness training focused on the long-term impact of campaigns (Awareness training) are promising instruments (Siebert and Siebert 2023).

Precise counterarguments strengthen judgment

The counter-speech initially aims to refute fake news by making opposing statements. It explicitly warns against believing this misinformation despite its dissemination in the media in writing, images and sound. In addition, it aims to convince people by providing clear counter-arguments that are easy to understand even without in-depth prior knowledge. This requires considerable effort from those who want to develop such a counter-speech with a view to addressing the target groups and bring it to the public.

A particular challenge is to identify precisely the points in which the information to be refuted is false. This is especially important when the initiators of a fake news campaign present this information in such a way that it does contain “a grain of truth” – and thus appears credible to many people who identify with precisely this element of truth. The counter-argument must then show how indisputable facts are abused through exaggerations, unjustified generalizations and false causal explanations to make fake news as a whole appear attractive.

The counter-argument technique is particularly effective when it points out that there are basically several arguments that are suitable for refuting the fake news in question. In this context, the explicitly presented counter-arguments then appear as examples that have been selected from a multitude of possible arguments.

Building on this, the counter-speech can and should encourage its respective target groups to develop further counter-arguments. In this way, it appeals to the independent judgment of each individual. And it strengthens the distance to misinformation, which is often presented in campaigns as if it were consistent with collective everyday experiences and assessments.

Self-awareness cancels campaign success

Awareness training is a method that goes far beyond the individual case of fake news that needs to be refuted. It informs the respective target groups about the existence and effects of the “belief perseverance bias”. In essence, it is about increasing sensitivity to the negative effects of this long-term effect.

It is important to raise awareness of the usually unconscious mechanisms by which people form their own opinions. This technique, which is aimed at strengthening “self-awareness”, can be applied to all kinds of misinformation. It requires little effort overall from those who use it to publicly counter fake news campaigns.

Awareness training also begins with a warning that a certain piece of information currently being spread is fake news. This is followed by a note that this information should not influence people's opinions, decisions and actions precisely because it contradicts the facts.

Following on from this, the phenomenon of conviction is critically examined: it is responsible for the fact that many people hold on to opinions even when they have long since been exposed as false and the result of manipulative campaigns. Conviction therefore promotes irrational decision-making and action that damages one's own interests in the long term.

The recipients of the awareness training should therefore be aware that successful life planning and even the successful management of a rapidly changing everyday life require each individual to be willing to give up entrenched – and perhaps cherished – opinions. Concrete examples reinforce the warning about the pitfalls of remaining stuck in one's own “mindset”.

An effective combination

A study conducted at the Management Center Innsbruck (Siebert and Siebert 2024) shows how beneficial it is to combine the two methods – counter-speech and awareness training. If they are used in such a way that they mesh with each other in terms of content and communication, the harmful influence of fake news on opinion formation in public space as well as in personal life can be almost eliminated.