"Misinformation is Layered, Multifaceted … and Attached to Access and Power": Centering Black Lived Experiences to Rethink Misinformation.

Misinformation has been at the forefront of concerns for health communication scholars. Scholarship on misinformation, however, has focused on defining misinformation for research purposes and examining misinformation among the general public or ideological and religious subsets of the population. Black Americans have historical and present-day lived experiences that uniquely shape their experiences with misinformation. We conducted a thematic analysis of six community conversations, designed to center community priorities and solutions, to understand how Black Americans (N = 74) define and navigate health and science misinformation. Results indicated that community members defined misinformation more broadly than inaccurate information. It also encompassed incomplete or inapplicable information and was inextricably tied to racism. Community members hold earned mistrust but have a desire to learn how to navigate misinformation in light of this. Furthermore, they expressed individual and structural barriers to navigating misinformation. Both theoretical implications for health communication scholars and practical implications for partnering with Black communities to address misinformation are discussed.