On 29 October, the 314th instalment of Zhejiang University's Communication Lecture Series was held in Room 105 of the School of Journalism and Communication. Entitled ‘From Research to Practice: Employing Vaccination Theory to Counter Misinformation and Online Fraud’, the lecture featured Associate Professor Jiang Li from the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong as the keynote speaker. She delivered an intellectually stimulating discourse of both academic depth and practical value to both the in-person audience and online viewers. The lecture was chaired by Sun Mengru, a researcher under the School's ‘Hundred Talents Programme’.
During the lecture, Jiang Li provided an in-depth exposition on the ‘vaccination theory,’ systematically revealing the practical value and contemporary relevance of this communication theory. This theory draws an analogy with the medical mechanism of ‘vaccination,’ centring on the pre-emptive exposure of weakened ‘counter-arguments’ to audiences. This helps them develop pre-established ‘cognitive antibodies’ to effectively resist misinformation or fraudulent rhetoric when subsequently exposed to it. Her team's research further corroborates that simple advocacy is vulnerable to subsequent attacks by false information, whereas structured inoculation strategies can significantly enhance information resilience.
In light of the contemporary challenges posed by the proliferation of disinformation and the evolving tactics of online fraud in the digital age, Jiang Li employs theoretical analysis of targeted telecommunications fraud campaigns against Hong Kong newcomers and social media-based anti-fraud initiatives to elucidate how false information exploits cognitive vulnerabilities for dissemination. Building upon this, she proposes multi-dimensional practical strategies. The public should proactively engage with diverse information sources and cultivate a ‘questioning reflex’. Defences can be strengthened by participating in self-generated or peer-generated digital word-of-mouth. At the platform and institutional level, ‘vaccination-style’ interventions require careful assessment of trust contexts to avoid over-reliance on official messaging. Neutral third-party sources should be leveraged, with emphasis on pre-emptively embedding ‘early warning awareness’ of fraud patterns to establish frontline defences. Finally, academia and industry must collaborate to explore variations in ‘information immunity’ across different demographics, thereby refining intervention strategies with precision.
This lecture offers novel perspectives for enhancing public information literacy and effectively countering fraud and misinformation in the digital age.