Exposure to untrustworthy websites in the 2020 US election

Abstract

Research using large-scale data on individuals' internet use has provided vital information about the scope and nature of exposure to misinformation online. However, most prior work relies on data collected during the 2016 US election. Here we examine exposure to untrustworthy websites during the 2020 US election, using over 7.5 million website visits from 1,151 American adults. We find that 26.2% (95% confidence interval 22.5% to 29.8%) of Americans were exposed to untrustworthy websites in 2020, down from 44.3% (95% confidence interval 40.8% to 47.7%) in 2016. Older adults and conservatives continued to be the most exposed in 2020 as in 2016, albeit at lower rates. The role of online platforms in exposing people to untrustworthy websites changed, with Facebook playing a smaller role in 2020 than in 2016. Our findings do not minimize misinformation as a key social problem, but instead highlight important changes in its consumption, suggesting directions for future research and practice.

The Dynamics of (Not) Unfollowing Misinformation Spreaders

“…Most followers in the Modeling Sample are conservative (Figure 2), but there is a bimodal distribution similar to the 'v-shaped' distribution of fake news exposure in 2016 [19]. Misinformation exposure is right-skewed, and conservatives follow more misinformation spreaders than liberals (Figure 3).…”

“…We also hypothesized that (H4) politically extreme users would be less likely to unfollow since ideological extremity is correlated with misinformation exposure [19]. But in 2020, extreme liberals decreased consumption of fake news [19]. And even in 2016, the top decile of conservatives had larger misinformation consumption than the top decile of liberals [8].…”

“…Some evidence suggests liberals have a higher political unfriending rate [33] so we hypothesized that (H3) liberals may be more likely to unfollow here (though political unfriending is a different phenomenon). We also hypothesized that (H4) politically extreme users would be less likely to unfollow since ideological extremity is correlated with misinformation exposure [19]. But in 2020, extreme liberals decreased consumption of fake news [19].…”

“…Moreover, selective exposure appears to be a stronger driver of misinformation consumption for users with extreme political ideologies. In 2016, consumption of fake news with respect to ideology was 'v-shaped': both extreme liberals and extreme conservatives consumed larger amounts of fake news [19]. Although fake news exposure decreased during the 2020 election, it was still the case that conservatives-and particularly, extreme conservatives-consumed more fake news than liberals [19].…”

Why Do People Share Political Information and Misinformation Online? Developing a Bottom-Up Descriptive Framework

“…False political information on social media is widespread (Moore et al, 2023; Vosoughi et al, 2018) and has the potential to severely harm individuals and society (House of Commons et al, 2019; Tucker et al, 2018; Zimmermann & Kohring, 2020). Social media users are key actors in the spreading of misleading or incorrect information, broadly termed misinformation (Caled & Silva, 2022).…”