In regard to online misinformation about the pandemic, President Joe Biden recently accused social media platforms of “killing people,” before walking back that statement. While not on the same level, I was recently the target of online misinformation that subjected me to threats and harsh vilification over my attempts to protect the shrubs in my yard in Arlington, Virginia, against dog urine. The experience has given me a better understanding of how falsehoods are spread online and an idea for how to counter such misinformation.
My experience began when I installed a product known as “scat mats” around the corner of my yard to prevent urinating dogs from killing the shrubs. Scat mats are plastic mats with prickly surfaces that deter animals from walking on the protected area. You can press your hands or bare feet down on them fairly hard and barely make any indentations in your skin. I purchased the product after reading numerous online reviews, which the retailer had verified were from legitimate purchasers. Many of the reviews were from pet owners themselves, which reassured me that the mats were not dangerous to pets.
I had the scat mats installed for a month and a half without any incident whatsoever. During that time, I saw dozens and dozens of dogs and their owners walk by each day right next to the mats. One day, however, someone took a distorted picture of the mats and posted on the website Nextdoor about the “sharp spikes” that I had installed, which the poster claimed could injure dogs.
Within a day, 350 responses had been posted, many of them extremely angry and hateful. I was called “sociopathic” and “evil.” Two responses suggested that people bottle up their urine and dump it on my property. There were demands for complaints to be filed with the police, county code enforcement, and animal welfare league and that a protest be staged. Many others made blatantly false and outlandish assertions about me personally and about the situation.
The whole out-of-control thread was based on a lie. The original post was false. Many curiosity-seekers and local news reporters who came to see the mats for themselves verified that they were not “sharp spikes” that could injure dogs.
This incident in my little corner of Arlington speaks to the broader social problem of online misinformation, which can lead to real-world threats and acts of violence against people, businesses, and civic and governmental institutions. To date, the private- and public-sector responses have been primarily to: (1) remove or demote false online content, (2) ban or suspend users, and (3) threaten to enact laws to force online platforms to do the foregoing. It seems that one measure that has not been tried up to now is public education.
In reading through the false posts about me on Nextdoor, I saw how many users will simply accept assertions by random strangers as fact, even when they are false. Without making any minimal effort to verify the truthfulness of a claim, many people will start posting responses amplifying the falsehood, thereby creating a snowball effect and distorting the facts even more.
What is missing in the countermeasures taken to date against online misinformation is public education. People need to be reminded that not every assertion they see online is true. They need to be educated on how to discern information from misinformation and how to distinguish between authoritative and nonauthoritative sources. Equipped with the right tools, I believe a substantial number of people will be able to cut through the misinformation and use social media more productively.
Social media companies could play a role in this. They might consider promoting on their platforms infographics, short videos, and other guides with best practices for engaging with online content. At the very least, such measures couldn’t hurt.
Ironically, Nextdoor suspended me from even accessing the website for my efforts to defend myself and provide the facts. Meanwhile, the original false post appears to have remained on the site. Suspending and banning people is a blunt instrument. Educating people on how to use social media intelligently may yield better results.
Eric Wang is an attorney in Washington, D.C.
