Communication scholars at the University of Utah tracked the web-surfing activity of more than 1,000 US adults for four weeks. They combined survey responses with actual web-browsing and YouTube-viewing data; participants landed on about nine million URLs, including 500,000 YouTube videos.
The team coded sites for health content. Of the 1,055 domains given a health tag, 78 (6.8%) were classified as low-credibility. Only 13% of participants visited even one such site during the four-week period, and those visits made up just 3% of all health-related browsing. Exposure was highly concentrated: the top 10% of participants accounted for more than three-quarters of all visits to these sites.
Traffic to low-credibility health sites was concentrated among older adults, especially those who lean right politically. Lead author Ben Lyons said this points to a vulnerable group, while also noting that overall levels are fairly low. The analysis found no clear referral links from Google, Facebook or partisan outlets; instead users often moved between low-credibility sites. The study appears in Nature Aging.
Difficult words
- scholar — person who studies or researches a subjectscholars
- track — follow and record actions or movementstracked
- domain — main website name or internet areadomains
- health tag — label showing content about health
- low-credibility — information people should not trust
- participant — person who takes part in a studyparticipants
- exposure — being in contact with something or seeing it
- concentrate — kept in a small number or areaconcentrated
- referral link — web address that sends users to another sitereferral links
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Why do you think only 13% of participants visited a low-credibility health site?
- What steps could families or community members take to help older adults avoid low-credibility health information online?
- Do you think combining survey answers with real web-browsing data gives better research results? Why or why not?
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