Identifying the Drivers Behind the Dissemination of Online Misinformation: A Study on Political Attitudes and Individual Characteristics in the Context of Engaging With Misinformation on Social Media

Abstract

The increasing dissemination of online misinformation in recent years has raised the question which individuals interact with this kind of information and what role attitudinal congruence plays in this context. To answer these questions, we conduct surveys in six countries (BE, CH, DE, FR, UK, and US) and investigate the drivers of the dissemination of misinformation on three noncountry specific topics (immigration, climate change, and COVID-19). Our results show that besides issue attitudes and issue salience, political orientation, personality traits, and heavy social media use increase the willingness to disseminate misinformation online. We conclude that future research should not only consider individual’s beliefs but also focus on specific user groups that are particularly susceptible to misinformation and possibly caught in social media “fringe bubbles.”

Moral leniency towards belief-consistent disinformation may help explain its spread on social media

“…Indeed, it was only when the individual misinformation narratives were isolated that the influence of the two COVID-19 related beliefs became clear. This adds to recent work which found narrative-level nuances in how attitudes [23] and political orientation [22] influence misinformation susceptibility. While the term 'misinformation' has often been used in a generalised way to reflect a collection of false and misleading information, these findings help demonstrate the potential value of accounting for narrative types.…”

“…With this in mind, one approach has been to use attitudes as a predictor of misinformation susceptibility. For instance, previous studies have found negative attitudes towards immigration may be more likely to interact with [ 22 ] and believe [ 23 ] immigration-related misinformation. One explanation for this may be because people prefer information which confirms stereotypes [ 24 ].…”

“…This further illustrates the need to develop a better understanding of how methodological decisions may influence outcomes in misinformation research. To date, a small number of studies have distinguished between different types of misinformation to better explain susceptibility [ 23 ] and intentions to interact [ 22 ], but no studies yet have considered how misinformation themes made up of opposing sentiments could influence relationships between beliefs and spread.…”

The Use of Five Public Health Themes in Understanding the Roles of Misinformation and Education Toward Disparities in Racial and Ethnic Distribution of COVID-19

“…According to research conducted in the US, education, in addition to other factors like age, geographic location, and gender, is a significant factor that triggers the spread of false information. People with more education are significantly less likely to spread erroneous information [ 17 , 18 ]. Furthermore, populations with a high proportion of college-educated people had low infection rates compared to populations with low college-educated people [ 7 ].…”

“…The impact of educational attainment has received little attention as a factor for the disproportionate distribution of COVID-19. Like other factors, low educational attainment among African Americans results from structural and systemic disadvantages [ 17 ]. Misinformation about COVID-19 has proliferated, posing a threat to public health in the United States.…”