Community-Based Fact-Checking on Social Media

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Nicolas Pröllochs
• Subject Area: Operations Management and Computer Science for Business Administration
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 492310022

Community-based fact-checking is a promising approach to fact-check social media content accurately and at scale. However, a (causal) understanding of the real-world effects of fact-checks on the user base on social media is – even apart from community-based fact-checking – still in its infancy. Therefore, this follow-up project aims to provide causal insights into how real-world social media users react to and interact with content that has been community fact-checked. Specifically, we will address the following three main research goals: (i) we will address the question of whether users stop sharing misleading posts once they are equipped with community fact-checks. For this purpose, we will leverage quasi-experimental methods in combination with a unique panel dataset that we collected during the initial phase of this project to assess the causal effect of community fact-checks on the spread of misleading posts on the social media platform X. We will also study how which characteristics of community fact-checks (e.g., emotions, linking to (un-)biased external sources) make them more or less effective in reducing the spread of misinformation. (ii) We will analyze causally how community-based fact-checking affects the subsequent behavior of users that have been fact-checked by the community (i.e., authors of misinformation) and their follower base. Here, we are particularly interested in understanding whether there is a potential disciplinary effect of community-based fact-checking (e.g., whether users can expect to lose followers if they get community-noted). (iii) We will analyze causally whether community fact-checks backfire and how the effects compare to traditional forms of fact-checking. The overarching goal of this project is to provide causal insights that further our understanding of whether community-based fact-checking can be an effective tool to help tackle the misinformation problem on social media. Based on our findings, we will derive important implications for platforms, regulators, and future attempts to implement (community-based) approaches to combat misinformation on social media.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants