Redbird, Beth; Harbridge-Yong, Laurel; Mersey, Rachel Davis
(Ed.)
In our analysis, we examine whether the labelling of social media posts as misinformation affects the subsequent sharing of those posts by social media users. Conventional understandings of the presentation-of-self and work in cognitive psychology provide different understandings of whether labelling misinformation in social media posts will reduce sharing behavior. Part of the problem with understanding whether interventions will work hinges on how closely social media interactions mirror other interpersonal interactions with friends and associates in the off-line world. Our analysis looks at rates of misinformation labelling during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic on Facebook and Twitter, and then assesses whether sharing behavior is deterred misinformation labels applied to social media posts. Our results suggest that labelling is relatively successful at lowering sharing behavior, and we discuss how our results contribute to a larger understanding of the role of existing inequalities and government responses to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
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