Debunking fake news on social media: Immediate and short-term effects of fact-checking and media literacy interventions

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Berger, Lara Marie; Kerkhof, Anna; Mindl, Felix; Muenster, Johannes
• 署名单位: University of Cologne; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2025.105345
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: Covid; environment; facebook; Fact-checking; fake news; Media literacy; misinformation; nutrition; Social media; Supplements; Survey experiment; vaccine

摘要

We conduct a randomized survey experiment to compare the immediate and short-term effects of fact-checking to a brief media literacy intervention. We show that fact-checking primarily affects the specific fake news it directly addresses, whereas media literacy helps to distinguish between false and correct information more generally, both immediately and around two weeks after the intervention. A plausible mechanism is that media literacy enables participants to critically evaluate social media postings, while fact-checking fails to enhance their skills as much. Our results promote media literacy as an effective tool to fight fake news, that is cheap, scalable, and easy-to-implement.