Students fight misinformation at spring 2025 What the Hackathon

A woman stands at the front of a room near a large screen displaying “What the Hackathon” at UGA, while several people sit in chairs and listen. The room has an industrial design with metal railings and exposed ducts.
Brittany Shivers, researcher and PhD student, speaks with students at the spring 2025 What the Hackathon about psychological reactance and source credibility. (Photo/Kyser Lough)

Students fight misinformation at spring 2025 What the Hackathon

April 24, 2025

University of Georgia students participated in new research studies on digital misinformation and won prizes at the spring 2025 What the Hackathon.

The event was sponsored by the What the Hack podcast, hosted by Adam Levin, and offered more than 40 students guidance on how people interpret and respond to misinformation online, drawing from current research on persuasion and trustworthiness.

Researcher and UGA doctoral student Brittany Shivers shared insights from her work on psychological reactance, source credibility and what it means for journalistic practice in digital spaces. Students participated in a streamlined version of a recent TikTok misinformation study she ran, experiencing firsthand how different interventions affect audience trust, skepticism and emotional responses.

A presentation slide with the University of Georgia logo and text: Scrolling for the Truth (or Not): Perceptions of Misinformation on TikTok and Potential Interventions. Includes an image of a phone displaying the TikTok app.
Brittany Shivers presented her research on psychological reactance, source credibility and what it means for journalistic practice in digital spaces at the Spring 2025 What the Hackathon. (Courtesy/Brittany Shivers)

The Cox Institute’s director of the News Literacy Certificate, Dr. Kyser Lough, facilitated the event. Lough is an associate journalism professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and researches visual communication and solutions journalism, with an emphasis in photojournalism.

The News Literacy Certificate hones students’ skills in discerning credible information and information disorder through critical examination of how people access, analyze, verify, create and share media messages — with an emphasis on news. The certificate is open to all UGA students.

An educational graphic about TikTok’s vulnerability to misinformation, featuring university branding, key statistics, and a young woman looking at her phone on the right side of the image.
Brittany Shivers’ research on TikTok’s vulnerability to misinformation which she shared at the Spring 2025 What the Hackathon. (Courtesy/Brittany Shivers)

What the Hackathons are hosted every semester as part of the Institute’s mission to train students in news literacy.

Author: Alexis Derickson