Web‐based misinformation in the context of higher education

Misinformation on the Web has the potential to distort the learning of higher education students. Research with faculty, research students and taught students showed that higher education students are naïve about the problem of misinformation. They believe they can identify it and do not make extra effort to check the sources of their information. Greater information literacy is advocated as one means of countering misinformation. Other suggested controls, such as certification of sources, and greater plurality of the ownership of information sources, receive less support. We do not know how much misinformation is on the Web, so determining the cost‐benefit of proposed solutions is still not possible.