Addressing health misinformation dissemination on mobile social media

With the pervasive use of social media apps, it is now common to see that people share health related information on the mobile social platforms. The spread of health misinformation on social media apps such as Facebook and WeChat poses serious threats to individual and public health. To address this issue, we drew upon reflective-impulsive model and went beyond the traditional view of users as reasoned decision makers by arguing that the health misinformation dissemination on social media apps is primarily driven by the impulsive system (habit and avoidance orientation). To reduce the dissemination, the reflective system should be strengthened. Accordingly, we propose that the presence of a message which emphasizes the negative effects of health misinformation dissemination and/or the accountability for health misinformation dissemination will reduce users' dissemination of the misinformation. Situational factors such as time availability, environmental noisiness and the dispositional moderator trait mindfulness will moderate the intervention effects.