Students fight misinformation at spring 2025 What the Hackathon

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.

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.

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

Author: Alexis Derickson