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Creators/Authors contains: "Moore, Ryan C"

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  1. The QAnon movement has been credited with spreading disinformation and fueling online radicalization in the United States and around the globe. While some research has documented publicly-visible communications and engagements with the QAnon movement, little work has examined individuals' actual exposure to QAnon content. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which Americans are exposed to QAnon websites, in what contexts, and to what effect. We employ a mixed methods review of 21 million website visits collected from a nationally representative sample of 1,238 American adults across laptops, smartphones, and tablets during the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Quantitative techniques reveal overall levels of exposure to QAnon and who is more likely to be exposed, and qualitative techniques provide rich information about how participants came to be exposed to QAnon and how it fit within their broader media diets. We find that: (1) exposure to QAnon websites is limited and stratified by political ideology and news consumption; (2) exposure tends to occur within right-wing media ecosystems that align with QAnon beliefs; and (3) mixed methods approaches to analyzing digital trace data can provide rich insights that contextualize quantitative techniques. We discuss the implications of our findings for the design of interventions to lessen exposure to problematic material online and future research on the spread of disinformation and extremist content. 
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  2. This paper examines strategies for making misinformation interventions responsive to four communities of color. Using qualitative focus groups with members of four non-profit organizations, we worked with community leaders to identify misinformation narratives, sources of exposure, and effective intervention strategies in the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI), Black, Latino, and Native American communities. Analyzing the findings from those focus groups, we identified several pathways through which misinformation prevention efforts can be more equitable and effective. Building from our findings, we propose steps practitioners, academics, and policymakers can take to better address the misinformation crisis within communities of color. We illustrate how these recommendations can be put into practice through examples from workshops co-designed with a non-profit working on disinformation and media literacy. 
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