Research found deliberately false Facebook posts were less damaging than unflagged vaccine-skeptical content with click-bait style headlines.

"The misinformation flagged by fact-checkers was 46 times less impactful than the unflagged content that encouraged vaccine skepticism."

The hope of many researchers is that, in tandem, multiple tactics may add up to something of a defense.

When it comes to actually persuading voters, the efficacy of microtargeting is difficult to determine.

The findings of a study by David Rand and co-authors indicate people's minds can be changed with facts, despite pessimism about that prospect.

"We see that the AI overwhelmingly was providing non-conspiratorial explanations for these seemingly conspiratorial events."

A lot has been written about conspiracy theories on the internet, making them very well represented in the AI chatbot model's training data.

The conversations "fundamentally changed people's minds. The effect didn't vary significantly based on which conspiracy was named and discussed."

"It is the facts and evidence themselves that are really doing the work here."

"In a recent paper published in Nature, we found that a simple accuracy nudge...improved the quality of the news [people] shared afterward."