Does Length Matter? The Impact of Fact-Check Length in Reducing COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation

ABSTRACT

This study examines the impact of message length and audience’s perceived information overload on the effectiveness of a fact-check in reducing belief in fake news within the COVID-19 vaccination context. Through an online experiment (N = 374) conducted in Singapore, we found an interaction effect between one’s level of information overload and the type of fact-check that was being shown (short, medium, or long). The findings from this study help to extend the literature on the effectiveness of fact-checks in reducing general public’s belief in fake news.

Acknowledgments

All procedures are approved by the host university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB-2021-03-034).

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

¹ Obtained from: https://www.singstat.gov.sg/-/media/files/publications/cop2020/sr1/cop2020sr1.ashx.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Science Research Council Grant, Ministry of Education, Singapore (MOE2018-SSRTG-022).

Notes on contributors

Edson C. Tandoc

Edson C. Tandoc Jr. is an Associate Professor and the Associate Chair for Research at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, where he is also the Director of the Centre for Information Integrity and the Internet (IN-cube) at Nanyang Technological University Singapore. His studies have focused on the impact of journalistic roles, new technologies, and audience feedback on the news gatekeeping process. He has also looked at how readers make sense of critical incidents in journalism and take part in reconsidering journalistic norms; and how changing news consumption patterns facilitate the spread of fake news.

James Chong Boi Lee

James Chong Boi Lee worked as a project officer at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University. His research focuses on how various psychological processes can affect individuals’ perceptions towards news media. He has also conducted both qualitative and quantitative studies on vulnerability towards belief in fake news.

Sangwon Lee

Sangwon Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the New Mexico State University. His research examines the impact of digital media on democratic processes. In particular, he focuses on how social media use changes the ways in which people learn about, engage with, and form opinions on political and social issues.

Pei Jun Quek

Pei Jun Quek is an undergraduate student from the School of Social Sciences and a summer research assistant at Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University. She has worked on fake news research projects examining the interaction of the younger and older approach towards understanding and fact-checking news on social media.