Reshares on social media amplify political news but do not detectably affect beliefs or opinions

Andrew M. Guess; Neil Malhotra; Jennifer Pan; Pablo Barberá; Hunt Allcott; Taylor Brown; Adriana Crespo-Tenorio; Drew Dimmery; Deen Freelon; Matthew Gentzkow; Sandra González-Bailón; Edward Kennedy; Young Mie Kim; David Lazer; Devra Moehler; Brendan Nyhan; Carlos Velasco Rivera; Jaime Settle; Daniel Robert Thomas; Emily Thorson; Rebekah Tromble; Arjun Wilkins; Magdalena Wojcieszak; Beixian Xiong; Chad Kiewiet De Jonge; Annie Franco; Winter Mason; Natalie Jomini Stroud; Joshua A. Tucker

doi:10.1126/science.add8424

Reshares on social media amplify political news but do not detectably affect beliefs or opinions

Andrew M. Guess, Neil Malhotra, Jennifer Pan, Pablo Barberá, Hunt Allcott, Taylor Brown, Adriana Crespo-Tenorio, Drew Dimmery, Deen Freelon, Matthew Gentzkow, Sandra González-Bailón, Edward Kennedy, Young Mie Kim, David Lazer, Devra Moehler, Brendan Nyhan, Carlos Velasco Rivera, Jaime Settle, Daniel Robert Thomas, Emily ThorsonRebekah Tromble, Arjun Wilkins, Magdalena Wojcieszak, Beixian Xiong, Chad Kiewiet De Jonge, Annie Franco, Winter Mason, Natalie Jomini Stroud, Joshua A. Tucker

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We studied the effects of exposure to reshared content on Facebook during the 2020 US election by assigning a random set of consenting, US-based users to feeds that did not contain any reshares over a 3-month period. We find that removing reshared content substantially decreases the amount of political news, including content from untrustworthy sources, to which users are exposed; decreases overall clicks and reactions; and reduces partisan news clicks. Further, we observe that removing reshared content produces clear decreases in news knowledge within the sample, although there is some uncertainty about how this would generalize to all users. Contrary to expectations, the treatment does not significantly affect political polarization or any measure of individual-level political attitudes.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	404-408
Number of pages	5
Journal	Science
Volume	381
Issue number	6656
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add8424
State	Published - Jul 28 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

Access to Document

10.1126/science.add8424

Cite this

Guess, A. M., Malhotra, N., Pan, J., Barberá, P., Allcott, H., Brown, T., Crespo-Tenorio, A., Dimmery, D., Freelon, D., Gentzkow, M., González-Bailón, S., Kennedy, E., Kim, Y. M., Lazer, D., Moehler, D., Nyhan, B., Rivera, C. V., Settle, J., Thomas, D. R., ... Tucker, J. A. (2023). Reshares on social media amplify political news but do not detectably affect beliefs or opinions. Science, 381(6656), 404-408. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add8424

Guess, AM, Malhotra, N, Pan, J, Barberá, P, Allcott, H, Brown, T, Crespo-Tenorio, A, Dimmery, D, Freelon, D, Gentzkow, M, González-Bailón, S, Kennedy, E, Kim, YM, Lazer, D, Moehler, D, Nyhan, B, Rivera, CV, Settle, J, Thomas, DR, Thorson, E, Tromble, R, Wilkins, A, Wojcieszak, M, Xiong, B, De Jonge, CK, Franco, A, Mason, W, Stroud, NJ & Tucker, JA 2023, 'Reshares on social media amplify political news but do not detectably affect beliefs or opinions', Science, vol. 381, no. 6656, pp. 404-408. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add8424

@article{5e61741bfdf841169946f23077109da3,

title = "Reshares on social media amplify political news but do not detectably affect beliefs or opinions",

abstract = "We studied the effects of exposure to reshared content on Facebook during the 2020 US election by assigning a random set of consenting, US-based users to feeds that did not contain any reshares over a 3-month period. We find that removing reshared content substantially decreases the amount of political news, including content from untrustworthy sources, to which users are exposed; decreases overall clicks and reactions; and reduces partisan news clicks. Further, we observe that removing reshared content produces clear decreases in news knowledge within the sample, although there is some uncertainty about how this would generalize to all users. Contrary to expectations, the treatment does not significantly affect political polarization or any measure of individual-level political attitudes.",

author = "Guess, {Andrew M.} and Neil Malhotra and Jennifer Pan and Pablo Barber{\'a} and Hunt Allcott and Taylor Brown and Adriana Crespo-Tenorio and Drew Dimmery and Deen Freelon and Matthew Gentzkow and Sandra Gonz{\'a}lez-Bail{\'o}n and Edward Kennedy and Kim, {Young Mie} and David Lazer and Devra Moehler and Brendan Nyhan and Rivera, {Carlos Velasco} and Jaime Settle and Thomas, {Daniel Robert} and Emily Thorson and Rebekah Tromble and Arjun Wilkins and Magdalena Wojcieszak and Beixian Xiong and {De Jonge}, {Chad Kiewiet} and Annie Franco and Winter Mason and Stroud, {Natalie Jomini} and Tucker, {Joshua A.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors.",

year = "2023",

month = jul,

day = "28",

doi = "10.1126/science.add8424",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "381",

pages = "404--408",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

number = "6656",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Reshares on social media amplify political news but do not detectably affect beliefs or opinions

AU - Guess, Andrew M.

AU - Malhotra, Neil

AU - Pan, Jennifer

AU - Barberá, Pablo

AU - Allcott, Hunt

AU - Brown, Taylor

AU - Crespo-Tenorio, Adriana

AU - Dimmery, Drew

AU - Freelon, Deen

AU - Gentzkow, Matthew

AU - González-Bailón, Sandra

AU - Kennedy, Edward

AU - Kim, Young Mie

AU - Lazer, David

AU - Moehler, Devra

AU - Nyhan, Brendan

AU - Rivera, Carlos Velasco

AU - Settle, Jaime

AU - Thomas, Daniel Robert

AU - Thorson, Emily

AU - Tromble, Rebekah

AU - Wilkins, Arjun

AU - Wojcieszak, Magdalena

AU - Xiong, Beixian

AU - De Jonge, Chad Kiewiet

AU - Franco, Annie

AU - Mason, Winter

AU - Stroud, Natalie Jomini

AU - Tucker, Joshua A.

PY - 2023/7/28

Y1 - 2023/7/28

N2 - We studied the effects of exposure to reshared content on Facebook during the 2020 US election by assigning a random set of consenting, US-based users to feeds that did not contain any reshares over a 3-month period. We find that removing reshared content substantially decreases the amount of political news, including content from untrustworthy sources, to which users are exposed; decreases overall clicks and reactions; and reduces partisan news clicks. Further, we observe that removing reshared content produces clear decreases in news knowledge within the sample, although there is some uncertainty about how this would generalize to all users. Contrary to expectations, the treatment does not significantly affect political polarization or any measure of individual-level political attitudes.

AB - We studied the effects of exposure to reshared content on Facebook during the 2020 US election by assigning a random set of consenting, US-based users to feeds that did not contain any reshares over a 3-month period. We find that removing reshared content substantially decreases the amount of political news, including content from untrustworthy sources, to which users are exposed; decreases overall clicks and reactions; and reduces partisan news clicks. Further, we observe that removing reshared content produces clear decreases in news knowledge within the sample, although there is some uncertainty about how this would generalize to all users. Contrary to expectations, the treatment does not significantly affect political polarization or any measure of individual-level political attitudes.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165800869&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85165800869&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1126/science.add8424

DO - 10.1126/science.add8424

M3 - Article

C2 - 37499012

AN - SCOPUS:85165800869

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 381

SP - 404

EP - 408

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6656

ER -

Reshares on social media amplify political news but do not detectably affect beliefs or opinions

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this