The social determinants of misinformation
We need to understand more about how susceptibility to misinformation is socially patterned so that it doesn’t deepen health inequalities, say Simon Williams and Sander van der Linden The effective communication of accurate information is a critical component of successful health systems, health promotion, and prevention efforts. The opposite of this is misinformation, which represents a serious threat to individual and global health. Not everyone is equally susceptible to misinformation, however, and one of the biggest priorities for public health should be to investigate what we might refer to as the social determinants of misinformation. Misinformation is less intentionally harmful than disinformation, which is defined as the deliberate spreading of incorrect information,1 but is arguably more prevalent because people often unwittingly spread misinformation and perceive it as correct. Misinformation can be thought of as a “meta risk” in so far as it transcends, influences, and ampli
