ESOC 345 Decoding Deceptive Information

False and misleading information online threatens our ability to make informed decisions and maintain a shared civic life, but more engaging approaches to discern what is true offer reasons for hope. This course explores strategies for strengthening truth-seeking and critical thinking in digital spaces, including media and information literacy, logical reasoning, prebunking, and tools developed by researchers and technologists. We consider the social and technological contexts that amplify confusion and division, and examine the role of generative AI in both problems and solutions. A central goal of this course is to help students recognize manipulative tactics, reason through complexity, and support trust in science, civic dialogue, and ethical public institutions.