Tech Companies Are Reconsidering an Old Enemy

Enhancements to protect against digital threats to the democratic process will begin to be rolled out across the web. A common strategy lies at the heart of many of the features being rolled out across the web: they are all prompting users to slow down. These efforts are reversing a long-held course and reflect a broader rethinking of what was once the industry's enemy number one.

The technology industry considers anything that stands between an individual and their goals to befriction. It was once a goal to eliminate it. Teams worked for years to shave milliseconds off page load times and system responses, and companies invested millions in developing and testing designs and user flows to ensure that every interaction would be as quick and easy as possible.

It makes sense that the emphasis is on speed and ease of use. The speed at which information can reach us at times surpasses the rate at which we can process it.

The results of a study conducted by scholars from MIT drove this point home for me. According to a survey of American adults, it was more important to them that what they shared online was accurate than that it was funny or aligned with their political beliefs. Even though the headlines ran contrary to their political beliefs, respondents were very good at identifying accurate and inaccurate headlines. The accuracy of the headline had no effect on what participants said they would share online.

A simple design change can change people's perception of the truth. If individuals are asked to evaluate the accuracy of an unrelated headline before they share, they can shift their attention away from their own commitments to accuracy.

According to a meta-analysis of 20 experiments that primed individuals to think of accuracy, these interventions can reduce sharing of misleading information by 10%. The research produced by the team at Jigsaw found that the Prompts are effective in 16 countries and all six inhabited continents.

Prompts can help people engage with information in a deeper way. The 40 percent increase in individuals clicking through to the piece before sharing it with their networks is a result of a new feature on the site.

There is strong evidence that these small instances offriction work. The feature that prompted people to reconsider their replies was introduced in 2020. 34 percent of those who received the prompt either edited their original reply or didn't reply at all, according to the social media site. Users who received the prompt were less likely to reply harshly in the future. These numbers are not earth-breaking, but they add up to a healthier online environment.