The effect of web add-on correction and narrative correction on belief in misinformation depending on motivations for using social media

ABSTRACT

How to combat the spread of misinformation on social media is a long-standing issue in the academic and practical fields, but creating effective correction strategies remains a challenge. Moreover, why people use social media has not been considered in understanding the effects of correction on misperception. Building on existing research, the current study examines two agendas: (a) whether different conditions of correction – no correction, web add-on correction and narrative correction – affect misinformation believability and (b) how different motivations of using social media – receiving news and interaction with other users – moderate the effects of correction types on misperception. The online experiment (N = 171) notes several key findings. Web add-on correction was effective in decreasing belief in misinformation. For those who use social media for social interaction, narrative correction was effective in reducing misperception. These findings revisit the effects of different correction types on beliefs in misinformation by emphasising the features of social media users.

KEYWORDS:

• Misinformation
• web add-on correction
• narrative correction
• motivations for using social media
• illusory truth effect
• mental model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The criteria that participants should be active Facebook users was included, given that the misinformation and correction used in the current research were manipulated based on the Facebook platform.

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript is supported by S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University.