Lisbon, July 4, 2025 (Lusa) - ISCTE researcher Catarina Santos believes that disinformation is very difficult to correct, which is why betting on a content similarity model, capable of bypassing cognitive mechanisms, could be an effective approach.
In an interview with the Lusa news agency, Catarina Santos said that "disinformation is very difficult to correct. Once incorrect information is assimilated, it tends to be integrated into the memory and seen as true. From that moment on, any attempt to correct it comes up against a barrier, which significantly reduces the effectiveness of corrective messages."
In this sense, "the correction of the misinformation we studied is done by trying to deceive the subject a little by using information that is similar to the coded misinformation, but which is capable of correcting the previous one."
The researcher explained that a false belief based on misinformation, such as “dyeing your hair during pregnancy is bad for the baby”, can be corrected with 'dyeing your hair during pregnancy is not bad for the baby [...]. These are very similar phrases that can lead the subject to think they are reinforcing the knowledge they already have, when in fact they are correcting it", through a strategy of bypassing cognitive mechanisms.
Furthermore, when it comes to disinformation about health, the academic reflects that "some time ago when someone was saying on a television programme that vaccines were unimportant, they were one-off interventions, with a relatively controlled scope and duration [...] and now these people just need to have a social media account and they have a megaphone that amplifies everything to an almost infinite universe".
"At the moment, social networks are not being an ally" in the fight against disinformation, not least because "algorithms are a problem". However, those seeking health information on social networks can also find institutions with a responsibility for health (DGS and ACSS, for example). The researcher notes that one of the aims of disinformation is to discredit institutions, democracy, and the influence of citizenship.
Catarina Santos also pointed out that "in the area of health, aesthetics and slimming treatments are highly lucrative markets. This profitability makes them particularly vulnerable to the proliferation of pseudoscientific practices."
Regarding the large platforms, the academic believes there is some regulation. However, "the area of aesthetics and slimming is currently unregulated and aesthetic treatments have a limit that borders on medical treatment".
In this regard, Catarina Santos also criticised the issuing of complementary therapy certificates, which legitimise practices that are not based on scientific evidence, something that she believes should be reversed "because the fact that people have a professional certificate to work, legitimises the work they do, and this work is not based on scientific knowledge", warning of the lack of coherence and knowledge of the curricula of the study cycles required to issue these certificates.
PYR/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
