> crowdsourced scientific research that benefits society.

how, in your words, would the covid19 news misinformation study benefit society?

One example, without having read further into that particular study, but knowing what misinformation research tries to do, generally, would be the following:

Identifying the specific mechanisms behind the dark patterns of social engineering.

There is a body of research, for example, that considers the spread of rumors by making use of the same mathematical models that epidemiology uses to model the spread of infectious disease (virality, in particular).

As I recall, that body of research led to the conclusion that the best weapon against misinformation may be the liberal and broad application of truth-telling.