Checking and Sharing Alt-Facts

Emeric Henry, Ekaterina Zhuravskaya and Sergei Guriev

SciencePo Working papers from HAL

Abstract: Using an online randomized experiment in the context of the 2019 European elections campaign in France, we study how fact-checking affects sharing of false news on social media. We exposed over 4200 voting-age French to statements on the role of the EU made by the extreme right populist party Rassemblement National. A randomly selected subgroup of experiment participants was also presented with fact-checking of these statements; another subgroup was offered a choice whether to view the fact-checking or not. Then, all participants could choose whether to share the false statements on their Facebook pages. We show that: (i) both imposed and voluntary fact-checking reduced sharing of false statements by more than 25%; (ii) the size of the effect was similar between imposed and voluntary fact-checking; and (iii) each additional click required to share false statements reduced sharing by 75%.

Date: 2020-06-05
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-03389187v1
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https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-03389187v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Checking and Sharing Alt-Facts (2022)
Working Paper: Checking and Sharing Alt-Facts (2022)
Working Paper: Checking and Sharing Alt-Facts (2022)
Working Paper: Checking and Sharing Alt-Facts (2022)
Working Paper: Checking and Sharing Alt-Facts (2020)
Working Paper: Checking and Sharing Alt-Facts (2020)
Working Paper: Checking and Sharing Alt-Facts (2020)
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