  A major problem that resulted from the massive use of social media networks
is the diffusion of incorrect information. However, very few studies have
investigated the impact of incorrect information on individual and collective
decisions. We performed experiments in which participants had to estimate a
series of quantities before and after receiving social information. Unbeknownst
to them, we controlled the degree of inaccuracy of the social information
through "virtual influencers", who provided some incorrect information. We find
that a large proportion of individuals only partially follow the social
information, thus resisting incorrect information. Moreover, we find that
incorrect social information can help a group perform better when it
overestimates the true value, by partly compensating a human underestimation
bias. Overall, our results suggest that incorrect information does not
necessarily impair the collective wisdom of groups, and can even be used to
dampen the negative effects of known cognitive biases.
