Psychological inoculation against misinformation

This keynote speech was part of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy Annual Conference 2025. 

Much like a viral contagion, misinformation can spread rapidly from one mind to another.  Inoculation theory offers a natural basis for developing a psychological ‘vaccine’ against the spread of fake news and misinformation. 

In this keynote, Prof Sander van der Linden discusses how it is possible to pre-emptively “immunise” people against disinformation by pre-exposing them to severely weakened doses of the techniques that underlie its production. This process of ‘prebunking’ helps people cultivate cognitive antibodies in both simulated and real social media environments. 

Prof Linden showcases several interventions he developed and evaluated—with public health authorities and social media companies—to help citizens around the world recognise and resist unwanted attempts to manipulate and mislead.

Keynote speaker:
Prof Sander van der Linden, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge
Chair: 
Prof Diane Coyle, Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge

For more session recordings, head to Bennett Institute podcasts.