Prebunking: Leveraging Strategies to Preserving Truth in Media

By Olaolu Fawole

With the advancement of technologies including Artificial Intelligence, AI, digital platforms are now flooded with misinformation in different forms.

To combat the spread of false narratives, the concept of prebunking emerged, which is to serve as a proactive strategy in the fight against fake news on both traditional and social media.

What is “Prebunking”.

Prebunking is a term from “preemptive debunking”, which means focusing on prevention rather than reactive mitigation. It involves effectively fortifying the public against deceptive narratives. Also, prebunking is an approach that shields media content consumers from the influence of false information, by providing accurate information ahead of time.

A key component of prebunking strategies is proactive communication and education campaign. This component preemptively debunk misinformation from identified potential sources of misinformation by disseminating accurate information.

Engaging media content users through various channels such as social media platforms and through traditional media as well as community outreach programmes, would make prebunking process more impactful among the heterogeneous audience and ensure a culture of critical thinking and media literacy.

Nevertheless, prebunking strategies in  preserving the truth in media have many potential benefits, which are significant. These include mitigating the impact of misinformation on public discourse, strengthening the resilience of democratic societies and promoting informed decision-making.

However, there are some challenges surrounding prebunking. Identifying and preemptively debunking misinformation before it goes viral requires time and a robust fact-checking process. Also, addressing echo chambers and confirmation bias, which can been classified as drivers of misinformation  requires a detailed and subtle comprehension of how people think, feel, and behave, as well as the underlying psychological factors that influence their actions.

Moreover, collaboration among journalists, media organisations, fact-checking organisations, government agencies, educational institutions and civil society organisations can amplify the impact of prebunking mechanisms and counter spread of misinformation.

All stakeholders must embrace the various innovative approaches such as prebunking to counter misinformation through proactive communication, education and partnership, so as to build a more dependable information ecosystem.