This is an automatic English translation of the Dutch original.
Photo Ingrid Taylar/Flickr
Podcasts are so intimate that you seem to be friends with the makers. That is precisely the strength of the medium. This also makes podcasts a powerful medium for spreading disinformation.
That emerges from an ongoing exploration by Post-X Society and others into misleading information, or even manipulative content.
Impossible to imagine life without them
The podcast has become impossible to imagine the media mix without. They are a kind of radio programme you can listen to whenever it suits you. There are roughly four categories:
- podcasts for relaxation and entertainment
- podcasts to keep up with news and current affairs
- podcasts to learn more about specific topics; and
- podcasts to listen to interviews and discussions.
Dutch people listen to a lot of podcasts and for many of them they are a source of information. One in six young people between 16 and 24 listens to them to keep up with what’s going on in the world (Schut et. al., 2024).
This raises an important question:
How do you know whether what they say in podcasts is true?
At newspapers and television channels, news programmes are made by journalists, or by editorial teams that work to a set of statutes.
With podcasts, anyone can just say anything at all.
And that is indeed what happens. Because podcasts often remain underexposed when it comes to research into disinformation, it is not precisely known how often and how much this happens.
This lack of research is partly because audio is harder to analyse than text. Manual analysis takes too much time. Recent technological developments are making automated analysis increasingly accessible and better.
Esther van Hammelburg, senior lecturer in Communication and Creative Business at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) and specialist in Hybridisation of the lifeworld at Post-X Society, will be diving into this in the coming period.
Esther thinks a lot of research into disinformation and manipulation via podcasts is coming. Although that will happen more in the English-language sphere than here. “Because of the limited size of our language area, the development of speech recognition in Dutch is simply slower.”
‘In podcasts they speak everyday language’
Esther explains why people are so susceptible to disinformation via podcasts.
“Podcasts are intimate. They are characterised by a personal and confidential presentation style. The presenter and her guest speak everyday language, for example, but you can also just hear it when she pours a drink. It’s as if you’re sitting at the table with them.”
Both the listeners of a podcast and regular guests are therefore often called ‘friend of the podcast’, she continues. “What’s more, people often listen to podcasts with headphones on. That makes it a very individual experience, in your own bubble of sound (Sharon, 2023).”
What is known about disinformation via podcasts?
“The programme Pointer analysed roughly 150,000 episodes of Dutch-language podcasts from 2022 and 2023 for mis- and disinformation. This showed, among other things, that social media algorithms also play an important role here in spreading radical content.”
Podcast platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts also seem to do little to counter misinformation, Esther explains. “YouTube is more active in moderating content.”
Finally, many podcast makers position themselves as independent of the ‘mainstream media’ and make money through donations, subscriptions, and selling products or services.
Esther also refers to Valerie Wirtschafter, who researched disinformation in popular political podcasts in the US. She took two cases: the American elections of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Esther cites five key insights from Wirtschafter’s research:
- Podcasts are seen as a space where ‘you can say anything you want’.
- Information from popular podcasts is spread widely: a small number of popular podcasts has a large reach.
- Podcasts seem to have played a big role in spreading fraud claims in the American elections of 2020.
- About the coronavirus pandemic, many unfounded claims were spread in podcasts. These were often based on misunderstandings about scientific insights and health guidelines.
- Fact checks are used, but often one-sidedly, to support one’s own positions.
This is what can be done about inaccuracies in podcasts
What can we do about this? Wirtschafter makes a number of recommendations, says Esther: “Podcast apps should be more transparent about their rules on disinformation, moderation, money flows and algorithmic recommendations. And podcast apps could let users help with reviewing and reporting content.”
Spotify and Apple play a big role
Specifically about audio platforms such as Spotify and Apple, you can say six things, Esther concludes:
- “According to researcher Kevin Caramancion, we should pay attention to the social feeds of the audio platforms. Through these, podcasts are recommended and spread in a networked way.
- “In addition, audio platforms have a high degree of interoperability with other social platforms, which can facilitate the spread of content (including potentially misleading information).”
- “It is also hard to regulate or fact-check content compared to textual or visual content.
- “Furthermore, audio platforms may have less advanced tools for content moderation compared to platforms that focus on text or images.
- “Finally, audio platforms seem to have less policy or protocol against disinformation.”
- “Through rankings and recommendation systems, audio platforms play a big role in increasing the reach of popular podcasts.”
What do you think?
So the discussion about this has only just begun. What do you think? Should Spotify and Apple do more themselves against disinformation? Let us know on our LinkedIn page >>