Misinformation is a tail problem

Empirical evidence shows that typical social‑media users encounter relatively little false or inflammatory content; instead, harmful exposure is concentrated among a small, highly motivated fringe. Policy and platform responses should therefore focus on the distributional extremes—the 'tails'—not broad censorship or average‑use interventions. — Reorienting policy from average exposure to tail harms changes what regulators, platforms and researchers prioritize—transparency, targeted mitigation, and cross‑border research—while reducing overbroad censorship arguments.