The power of the crowd
The power of the crowd
generated corrections on social media. A sample of more than 170,000 observations across a wide range of topics (COVID, climate change, 5G etc.) is used to test whether social corrections help reduce the perceived accuracy of false news and whether miscorrections decrease the credibility of true news. Corrections reduce the perceived accuracy of misinformation, but miscorrections can harm perceptions of true news. The Element also assesses the mechanisms of social corrections, finding evidence for recency effects rather than systematic processing. Additional analyses show the characteristics of individuals who have more difficulties identifying false news. Survey data is included on characteristics of people who write comments often. The conclusion highlights that social corrections can mislead, but also work as remedy. The Element ends with best practices for effective corrections.
Cambridge University Press
Stoeckel, Florian
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Stöckli, Sabrina
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Lyons, Benjamin A
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Kroker, Hannah
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Reifler, Jason
426301a1-f90b-470d-a076-04a9d716c491
September 2025
Stoeckel, Florian
ca82e601-5b0f-4f51-9b2d-46a1693e1f25
Stöckli, Sabrina
7a440aed-0755-4e6c-b233-360ea0533b68
Lyons, Benjamin A
4c85428f-bd28-4aa1-b53b-282c9918fea6
Kroker, Hannah
22a9dcc8-d2b3-4a73-876b-525adaecf401
Reifler, Jason
426301a1-f90b-470d-a076-04a9d716c491
Stoeckel, Florian, Stöckli, Sabrina, Lyons, Benjamin A, Kroker, Hannah and Reifler, Jason
(2025)
The power of the crowd
(Elements in Experimental Political Science),
Cambridge University Press, 75pp.
Abstract
generated corrections on social media. A sample of more than 170,000 observations across a wide range of topics (COVID, climate change, 5G etc.) is used to test whether social corrections help reduce the perceived accuracy of false news and whether miscorrections decrease the credibility of true news. Corrections reduce the perceived accuracy of misinformation, but miscorrections can harm perceptions of true news. The Element also assesses the mechanisms of social corrections, finding evidence for recency effects rather than systematic processing. Additional analyses show the characteristics of individuals who have more difficulties identifying false news. Survey data is included on characteristics of people who write comments often. The conclusion highlights that social corrections can mislead, but also work as remedy. The Element ends with best practices for effective corrections.
Text
Book manuscript_The Power of the Crowd_Main body
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More information
Published date: September 2025
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 502973
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/502973
PURE UUID: 872b5edc-eca1-4248-b59e-fafe6c297059
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Date deposited: 15 Jul 2025 16:50
Last modified: 19 Jul 2025 02:18
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Contributors
Author:
Florian Stoeckel
Author:
Sabrina Stöckli
Author:
Benjamin A Lyons
Author:
Hannah Kroker
Author:
Jason Reifler
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