Checking and Sharing Alt-Facts

Abstract

Using an online randomized experiment in the context of the 2019 European
elections campaign in France, we study how fact-checking affects sharing
of false news on social media. We exposed a random sample of French
voting-age Facebook users to statements on the role of the European
Union made by the far-right populist party Rassemblement National.
A randomly selected subgroup of participants was also presented with
fact-checking of these statements; another subgroup was offered a
choice whether to view the fact-checking information. Then, all participants
could choose whether to share the false statements on their Facebook
pages. We show that (i) both imposed and voluntary fact-checking reduce
sharing of false statements by about 45\%; (ii) the size of the effect
is similar between imposed and voluntary fact-checking; and (iii)
each additional click required to share false statements substantially
reduces sharing. These results inform the debate about policy proposals
aimed at limiting propagation of false news on social media.

Keywords: alternative facts, fake news, fact-checking, sharing, social media, Facebook

JEL Classification: D8, D91