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    The effects of “disputed” tags and political knowledge on the judged truthfulness of election misinformation | Trump voters with high political knowledge judged election misinformation as more truthful when Trump’s claims included Twitter’s “disputed” tags

    Bytes Europe

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    14 Comments

    1. Hrmbee on

      Intro from this research paper:

      >Misinformation has sown distrust in the legitimacy of American elections. Nowhere has this been more concerning than in the 2020 U.S. presidential election wherein Donald Trump falsely declared that it was stolen through fraud. Although social media platforms attempted to dispute Trump’s false claims by attaching soft moderation tags to his posts, little is known about the effectiveness of this strategy. We experimentally tested the use of “disputed” tags on Trump’s Twitter posts as a means of curbing election misinformation. Trump voters with high political knowledge judged election misinformation as more truthful when Trump’s claims included Twitter’s disputed tags compared to a control condition. Although Biden voters were largely unaffected by these soft moderation tags, third-party and non-voters were slightly less likely to judge election misinformation as true. Finally, little to no evidence was found for meaningful changes in beliefs about election fraud or fairness. These findings raise questions about the effectiveness of soft moderation tags in disputing highly prevalent or widely spread misinformation.

    2. MazzIsNoMore on

      They believe the lies even harder when called out. The evidence of this being a cult of personality grows by the day. Also, this reinforces my belief that anyone still on board the Trump train can not be reached with logic and well-reasoned arguments. There’s no amount of policy that “helps the everyday American” that will persuade them.

    3. YetAnotherZombie on

      I’m at work so the link doesn’t work for me. Please tell me they explain “high political knowledge”

    6. jrob323 on

      “Trump Voters With High Political Knowledge”

      Where exactly were they able to collect THESE participants?

    7. Low-Evidence-6966 on

      This research highlights the importance of critical thinking skills and the potential impact of external cues on our perception of truth. It’s a reminder to always question the source and validity of information, even when it aligns with our beliefs.

    9. emprameen on

      I just heard a congressperson say “I said it was a lie because Al Gore said it was true” regarding climate change. This is how Republicans function. They just want to oppose anything that their opponent does on principal.

    10. Warmstar219 on

      > Trump voters with high political knowledge

      No such thing. It’s an oxymoron, except for people who are truly evil. Being “engaged” doesn’t equate to actual knowledge.

    12. fairlyaveragetrader on

      It’s worth noting that between 25% and 40% of the German population still supported Hitler in 1945. Think about that one for a minute. The actual numbers are difficult to determine and are based on historians, but still. That’s an example of how deep some people can get into the cult.

      There’s no amount of logical reasoning will work. You could make 20 extremely high quality points and they will just dismiss or deflect and then point to one thing on the opposition that they claim is the reason they don’t like them. It’s basically a lost cause and I’m not sure if it’s just that they have some fantasy of returning to 1950 when there were very few brown people or it’s just mental illness or results of aging and high blood pressure? Because there’s not really a rational end to the thoughts. This current right wing is basically a fast track to an oligarchy. You would have an aristocrat class that basically ruled. It’s also curious that many of these people who grew up during the Cold war now suddenly like Russia and think Putin is a great guy. I sometimes wonder how much of this is actually a Russian mass psychological operation taking place on social media because the rise of this extremism also coincided with the rise in social media when you think about the timelines

    13. Stickasylum on

      100% the result of intentionally priming the base to disbelieve facts and authority in preparation for anti-democratic actions. Pure cult playbook.