Toxic Content and User Engagement on Social Media: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Most social media users have encountered toxic content online, but there is scarce evidence of how it impacts engagement. In a pre-registered browser extension field experiment, we randomly hid toxic content on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for six weeks. Lowering exposure to toxicity (i) reduced time spent, content consumption, advertising impressions; (ii) reduced the toxicity of user-generated content; and (iii) led to substitution to non-treated social media platforms. A complementary survey experiment shows toxic content triggers users’ curiosity, increasing engagement. Taken together, our results suggest that platforms face a trade-off between curbing toxicity and increasing engagement.

Keywords: toxic content, hate speech, moderation, social media, user engagement, field experiment

JEL Classification: C93, D12, D83, D90, I31, L82, L86, M37, Z13

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Beknazar-Yuzbashev, George and Jiménez Durán, Rafael and McCrosky, Jesse and Stalinski, Mateusz, Toxic Content and User Engagement on Social Media: Evidence from a Field Experiment (November 1, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4307346 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4307346