Introduktion: I dagens digitala tidsålder vänder sig många individer till internet som sin första källa till hälsoinformation. Forskning har dock visat att majoriteten av digital hälsoinformation är av låg kvalitet och har bristfällig korrekthet. En stor del av denna information består sannolikt av både desinformation och missinformation. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att sammanställa resultaten från peer-review granskade studier som utvärderar korrektheten hos digital hälsoinformation, med särskilt fokus på studier som använder expertgranskade texter utvärderade mot etablerade riktlinjer. Metod: Den 7 april 2024 genomsöktes tre databaser – MEDLINE EBSCO, Scopus och PubMed. Totalt 21 artiklar inkluderades. Resultaten från dessa artiklar kategoriserades och analyserades induktivt utifrån Narro och Tudges neo-ekologiska teori. Resultat: Fyra huvudkategorier skapades gällande informationens korrekthet: god, måttlig, bristfällig och varierande. Av de inkluderade artiklarna bedömdes 3 (14%) ha god korrekthet, 4 (19%) artiklar måttlig korrekthet, 13 (62%) bristfällig korrekthet och 1 (5%) hade varierande. Därtill ansågs 76% av det inkluderade materialet från trovärdiga källor ha bristfällig korrekthet. Slutsats: Majoriteten av de inkluderade studierna och det trovärdiga materialet har bristfällig korrekthet. Dessutom, tenderar studier som uppvisar en högre grad av korrekthet, ha sämre läsbarhet och den övergripande kvaliteten är ofta bristfällig, vilket även gör det svårt för konsumenter att förstå informationen. / Introduction: In today's digital age, many individuals turn to the internet as their initial source of health information. However, research has shown that the majority of online health information is of poor quality and low accuracy. A significant portion of this information likely includes both misinformation and disinformation. Aim: The aim of this study was to synthesize findings from peer-reviewed research assessing the accuracy of online health information, with a particular emphasis on studies that utilize expert-reviewed content evaluated against established guidelines. Method: On 7 April 2024, three databases—MEDLINE EBSCO, Scopus, and PubMed—were searched. A total of 21 articles were included in the systematic review. The results from these articles were categorized and inductively examined through the lens of Narro and Tudge’s neo-ecological theory. Results: Four primary categories were created concerning the accuracy of the information: good, moderate, poor, and varied. Among the included articles, 3 (14%) were deemed to have good accuracy, 4 (19%) articles exhibited moderate accuracy, 13 (62%) demonstrated poor accuracy, and 1 (5%) had varied accuracy. Additionally, 76% of the included material from trustworthy sources were categorized as having poor accuracy. Conclusion: The majority of the included studies and trustworthy material were found to have poor accuracy. Furthermore, even when studies exhibited a higher degree of accuracy, the readability and overall quality were often deficient, making it difficult for consumers to understand.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, the largest armed conflict in Europe since the Second World War, is a war of many dimensions. Waged on land, sea, and in the air, it encompasses troop movements the size of which has not been seen since the Soviet invasion of the Third Reich. Today, there is a fourth dimension from where the war is being fought; The Internet. Information is being twisted, both on purpose and by accident, and propaganda is everywhere. This paper will make an analysis, touching upon how Russia has used information and propaganda since just after the cold war, and how it has changed with the invasion of Ukraine. It points out that the use of information has indeed changed, out of necessity to ensure domestic support for the cause, and in attempts to alienate Ukraine from the West.

This study shows that media and misinformation in media can have a direct impact on policymakers during the agenda setting stage of the policy process. Through a theoretical framework based on the network agenda setting model, discourse theory, WPR-approach and previous research regarding misinformation about transgender people, the case of two anti-trans legislation initiatives, one of which was an emergency measure, in North Dakota, USA, from 2023, are explored. Through qualitative, content analysis, WPR-analysis and discourse analysis, an examination of the impact of misinformation about transgender people on Fox News, from the 13th of december 2022 to the 23rd of january 2023, on policymakers in North Dakota is presented. The study found that there are considerable similarities between the discourse about transgender people on Fox News and the problem representation in the anti-trans legislation initiatives, in addition to substantial amounts of misinformation about transgender people on Fox News. These findings imply that policymakers can be affected by misinformation in news media, which in turn can affect democratic systems through the potential erosion of trust, political accountability and democratic rights.

Memory conformity effects occur when witnesses report misleading suggestions they learned about from another witness. Using a new paradigm the present thesis investigated whether what subject-witnesses report about an event also implies what they personally remember or know about that event. Subjects were tested in pairs, with each member of a pair shown a different version of a video using the MORI technique. There were critical details (e.g., theft of an iPod) in each of the following conditions: visible to only one member of each subject spair, visible to both members of the pair, and not visible to either member of the pair. Pairs subsequently completed a questionnaire together to remember details from the video. Subjects then individually completed a similar questionnaire. A source monitoring and subjective experiences test revealed that co-witness discussion does not necessarily lead people to experience illusory recollections for details they did not witness themselves.

This thesis investigates a cultural logic of information. In a world saturated with information, how is representation defined, and what kinds of boundaries does it consequently set up for establishing what can be known? I argue that a cultural logic of information articulates a common cultural definition for representation: information is understood as either a “true” representation of reality, or a substitute for reality itself. As a result, information comes to be conflated with knowledge. But, in contrast to calls (scholarly and otherwise) to police the boundaries of information, I argue 1) that information is exceedingly difficult to separate, in kind, from storytelling, because 2) the provision of information almost always entails scrambles for narrative representation, which 3) are always staged in the terms of genre. The function of these conclusions is the constant undermining of this cultural logic. I examine the intersection of a variety of cultural and theoretical objects, including: Fox News and “Make America Great Again”; scientific modelling of climate change; Claude Shannon’s mathematical theory of communication; Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle; YouTube “lifestyle” communities; and the documentary “The Act of Killing.” I suggest that a methodology that accounts for the imbrication of information and storytelling better accounts for the vicissitudes of, and ideological struggles over, these cultural phenomena. It does so, in particular, by engaging with the subjective experience of information, and assessing how subjects imagine their relations to information and to networks. The purpose of this argument is to intervene in conversations about the articulation of life in control societies. / Graduate / 2021-06-20

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Social media has become a prime tool in communicating during crises. Ongoing COVID-19 pandemic illustrates this trend strongly with the Canadian government conveying messaging through many platforms. In this thesis, we aimed to explore how Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Health Canada (HC) communicate with Canadians through social media, namely Twitter. Based on insights from social media practices drawn from work by Wendling et al. (2013); Lin et al. (2016) and from social mediated crisis communication theory of Austin et al. (2012), we sought to find what type of social media strategies adopted to execute crisis communication during COVID-19 pandemic. We also aimed at understanding to what extent these reflect the theoretical framework of the present study. To undertake this research, we opted for a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis enabled by thematic analysis to identify categories of meaning and their trend. We found that social media strategies adopted by PHAC and HC have many aspects in common with the theoretical framework, yet they offer many nuances in practices driven mainly by the length of the crisis and the uncertainty it has caused. This thesis brings theory into practice by researching an ongoing crisis, gauging social media use practices against messaging strategies. It also calls on the need for updating theories and good practices in light of the outcomes of the COVID-19 crisis.

TikTok är en snabbt växande plattform som främst används av generation Z. Innehållet på plattformen har förändrats de senaste åren, där det har gått från att i störst del bestå av dans och musik till att numera även beröra ämnen som politik, aktivism och nyheter. Detta kräver ett källkritiskt förhållningssätt av användarna eftersom det tenderar att spridas desinformation. Därför syftar studien till att undersöka hur källkritiska generation Z är till samhällsnyttig information på TikTok samt deras förmåga att källkritiskt granska innehållet. Vidare diskuterar studien hur plattformens funktioner påverkar generation Z och deras förmåga att avgöra vad som är sant eller falskt.  Studien baseras på en kvantitativ och kvalitativ metodansats i form av enkät- och intervjuundersökningar. Intervjun genomfördes med sju personer inom generation Z fördelat på tre åldersgrupper, 16–19 år, 20–23 år och 24–27 år. Resultatet visade att generation Z har kännedom om innebörden av källkritik, men att de inte utnyttjar deras källkritiska kunskaper på plattformen. Respondenterna uppgav även att de sällan granskar innehåll på TikTok och att de tenderar att referera till innehållet i samtal med andra. Studien konstaterar även att generation Z använder TikTok framför allt för underhållning och tidsfördriv vilket bidrar till att det dels saknas intresse av att ifrågasätta innehåll som bekräftar deras egna övertygelser. Dels saknas det förutsättningar för att de ska kunna vara källkritiska på grund av det korta videoformatet och avsaknad av bakgrundsinformation från avsändaren. Utifrån studiens resultat kan slutsatsen dras att ansvaret gällande att vara källkritisk enbart ligger på användaren, men det krävs även ansvar från avsändare. Vidare visade även resultatet från intervjuerna att TikToks funktioner i form av gilla-markeringar, kommentarsfält och tillägg av bilder har en påverkan på generation Z:s tillförlitlighet till innehållet, både positivt och negativt. / TikTok is a rapidly growing platform used mainly by Generation Z. The content of the platform has changed in recent years, moving from a predominantly dance and music content to topics such as politics, activism and news. This requires a source-critical approach from the users as there is a tendency to spread misinformation. Therefore, the study aims to investigate how source-critical Generation Z is to socially useful information on TikTok and their ability to critically review the content. Furthermore, the study discusses how the platform's functions affect generation z's trustworthiness of TikTok content.  The study is based on a quantitative and qualitative methodological approach in the form of surveys and interviews. The interviews were conducted with seven people in Generation Z divided into three age groups, 16-19 years, 20-23 years and 24-27 years. The results showed that Generation Z is aware of the meaning of source criticism, but that they do not utilize their source criticism knowledge on the platform. The respondents also stated that they rarely review content on TikTok and that they tend to refer to the content in conversations with others. The study also notes that Generation Z uses TikTok mainly for entertainment and amusement, which contributes to a lack of interest in questioning content that confirms their own beliefs. On the other hand, there are no conditions for them to be critical of the source due to the short video format and the lack of background information from the creator. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the responsibility for being source-critical lies solely with the user, but responsibility is also required from the creators. Furthermore, the results from the interviews also showed that TikTok's functions in the form of likes, the comment section and the addition of images have an impact on generation Z's credibility to the content, both positively and negatively.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur studenters minnesprestation påverkas av missvisande information, om polisstudenters minnesprestation skiljer sig signifikant från psykologstudenters samt om säkerheten är högre på de betydande objekten, det vill säga de frågor som blivit manipulerade med missvisande information, än övriga frågor. Ett experiment genomfördes där urvalet bestod av polisstudenter (n = 45) och psykologstudenter (n = 19) på Umeå universitet. Samtliga 64 deltagare, med en medelålder på 24.4 år, fick se en video där ett fiktivt brott begicks för att sedan läsa ett narrativ av videon, som antingen innehöll missvisande eller korrekt information, och slutligen fylla i en enkät med flervalsfrågor relaterat till videon. En variansanalys (ANOVA) användes för att analysera deltagarnas svar som visade på att det förelåg en missinformationseffekt, det vill säga att deltagarna som fått missvisande information blev påverkade av det, samt att deltagarna som blivit tilldelade det missvisande narrativet rapporterade lägre säkerhet i sina svar än de som blivit tilldelade det korrekta narrativet, båda dessa oberoende av deltagarnas utbildning. Slutsatsen som kan dras utifrån detta är att minnesprestation och säkerhet påverkas av missvisande information, däremot verkar utbildning inte vara en prediktor för detta. Framtida forskning bör genomföra liknande studier med större urval då detta ansågs vara en brist i denna studie. / The purpose of this study was to investigate how students' memory performance is affected by misleading information, if police students' memory performance differs significantly from psychology students and if confidence is higher on the critical items, meaning the questions which have been manipulated with misinformation, than other questions. An experiment was conducted where the sample consisted of police students (n = 45) and psychology students (n = 19) at Umeå University. All 64 participants, with a mean age of 24.4 years, watched a video of a fictional crime, then read a narrative of the video, which contained either misleading or accurate information, and finally completed a multiple-choice survey related to the video. Ananalysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze participants' responses which showed that there was a misinformation effect, meaning that the participants who received misleading information were affected by it, and that participants assigned to the misleading narrative reported lower confidence in their responses than those assigned to the correct narrative, both of these independent of the participants' education. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that memory performance and confidence are affected by misleading information, however, education does not seem to be a predictor of this. Future research should conduct similar studies with a bigger sample as this was considered a shortcoming in this study.