Political Fact-Checking on Twitter

When Do Corrections Have an Effect

Bibliographic Data

ID6335131
AuthorsDrew B Margolin, Drew Margolin (0000-0003-0257-6217), Aniko Hannak (0000-0002-0612-6320), Ingmar Weber (0000-0003-4169-2579)
Year2018
Volume35
Issue2
Pages196-219
Publication date2018-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1058-4609 • E-ISSN: 1091-7675
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10584609.2017.1334018
OpenAlexW2753091189
LanguageEN
Citations received92
References cited58

Research suggests that fact checking corrections have only a limited impact on the spread of false rumors. However, research has not considered that fact-checking may be socially contingent, meaning there are social contexts in which truth may be more or less preferred. In particular, we argue that strong social connections between fact-checkers and rumor spreaders encourage the latter to prefer sharing accurate information, making them more likely to accept corrections. We test this argument on real corrections made on Twitter between Janurary 2012 and April, 2014. As hypothesized, we find that individuals who follow and are followed by the people who correct them are significantly more likely to accept the correction than individuals confronted by strangers. We then replicate our findings on new data drawn from November 2015 to February, 2016. These findings suggest that the underlying social structure is an important factor in the correction of misinformation

Argument (complex analysis · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Economics · Meaning (existential · Misinformation · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Rumor · Social distance · Social media · Sociology · Test (biology · Media Influence and Politics · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Law · Social Psychology