Social corrections act as a double-edged sword by reducing the perceived accuracy of false and real news in the UK, Germany, and Italy
Social corrections act as a double-edged sword by reducing the perceived accuracy of false and real news in the UK, Germany, and Italy
Corrective or refutational posts from ordinary users on social media have the potential to improve the online information ecosystem. While initial evidence of these social corrections is promising, a better understanding of the effects across different topics, formats, and audiences is needed. In three pre-registered experiments (N = 1944 UK, N = 2467 Italy, N = 2210 Germany) where respondents completed a social media post assessment task with false and true news posts on various topics (e.g., health, climate change, technology), we find that social corrections reduce perceived accuracy of and engagement with false news posts. We also find that social corrections that flag true news as false decrease perceived accuracy of and engagement with true news posts. We did not find evidence to support moderation of these effects by correction strength, anti-expert sentiments, cognitive reflection capacities, or susceptibility to social influence. While social corrections can be effective for false news, they may also undermine belief in true news.
10
Stoeckel, Florian
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Stöckli, Sabrina
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Ceka, Besir
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Ricchi, Chiara
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Lyons, Ben
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Reifler, Jason
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13 February 2024
Stoeckel, Florian
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Stöckli, Sabrina
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Ceka, Besir
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Ricchi, Chiara
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Lyons, Ben
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Reifler, Jason
426301a1-f90b-470d-a076-04a9d716c491
Stoeckel, Florian, Stöckli, Sabrina, Ceka, Besir, Ricchi, Chiara, Lyons, Ben and Reifler, Jason
(2024)
Social corrections act as a double-edged sword by reducing the perceived accuracy of false and real news in the UK, Germany, and Italy.
Communications Psychology, 2 (1), , [10].
(doi:10.1038/s44271-024-00057-w).
Abstract
Corrective or refutational posts from ordinary users on social media have the potential to improve the online information ecosystem. While initial evidence of these social corrections is promising, a better understanding of the effects across different topics, formats, and audiences is needed. In three pre-registered experiments (N = 1944 UK, N = 2467 Italy, N = 2210 Germany) where respondents completed a social media post assessment task with false and true news posts on various topics (e.g., health, climate change, technology), we find that social corrections reduce perceived accuracy of and engagement with false news posts. We also find that social corrections that flag true news as false decrease perceived accuracy of and engagement with true news posts. We did not find evidence to support moderation of these effects by correction strength, anti-expert sentiments, cognitive reflection capacities, or susceptibility to social influence. While social corrections can be effective for false news, they may also undermine belief in true news.
Text
s44271-024-00057-w
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Accepted/In Press date: 10 January 2024
Published date: 13 February 2024
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Local EPrints ID: 498156
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/498156
ISSN: 2731-9121
PURE UUID: db485f50-b7b8-4fb9-bccc-34045d5604b8
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Date deposited: 11 Feb 2025 17:55
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:43
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Author:
Florian Stoeckel
Author:
Sabrina Stöckli
Author:
Besir Ceka
Author:
Chiara Ricchi
Author:
Ben Lyons
Author:
Jason Reifler
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