Target misinformation’s harmful tail

Empirical studies show average users have low exposure to false or inflammatory content; most consumption is clustered in a motivated fringe. Policy should therefore focus on the tails—where consumption is highest and real‑world harms occur—by demanding platform transparency, targeted mitigation, and independent research collaborations, especially outside wealthy Western countries where data are scarce. — Shifting regulation and research from aggregate exposure metrics to tail exposures reframes enforcement, transparency demands, and resource allocation for platform oversight worldwide.