Filter Bubbles, Echo Chambers and Fake News: How Social Media Conditions Individuals to be Less Critical of Political Misinformation

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Samuel C. Rhodes, Utah Valley University

Version:  View help for Version V2

Name File Type Size Last Modified
data-final.dta application/x-stata 4.6 MB 04/03/2021 02:00:PM
do-final.do text/x-stata-syntax 2.4 KB 04/03/2021 01:59:PM
final-fake_and_real_news_stories_used.pdf application/pdf 147.7 KB 04/03/2021 02:00:PM
final-survey.pdf application/pdf 271.7 KB 04/03/2021 02:00:PM

Project Citation: 

Rhodes, Samuel C. Filter Bubbles, Echo Chambers and Fake News: How Social Media Conditions Individuals to be Less Critical of Political Misinformation. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-04-03. https://doi.org/10.3886/E135024V2

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary Social media platforms have been found to be the primary gateway through which individuals are exposed to fake news. The algorithmic filter bubbles and echo chambers that have popularized these platforms may also increase exposure to fake news. Because of this, scholars have suggested disrupting the stream of congruent information that filter bubbles and echo chambers produce, as this may reduce the impact and circulation of misinformation. To test this, a survey experiment was conducted via Amazon MTurk. Participants read ten short stories that were either all fake or half real and half fake. These treatment conditions were made up of stories agreeable to the perspective of Democrats, Republicans, or a mix of both. The results show that participants assigned to conditions that were agreeable to their political world view found fake stories more believable compared to participants who received a heterogeneous mix of news stories complementary to both world views. However, this "break up" effect appears confined to Democratic participants; findings indicate that Republicans assigned to filter bubble treatment conditions believed fake news stories at approximately the same rate as their fellow partisans receiving a heterogeneous mix of news items. This suggests that a potential "break up" may only influence more progressive users.

Data included in this deposit:

  1. The Stata .dta file
  2. The Stata .do file used to generate tables and figures featured in the paper
  3. A .pdf file containing the text of the fake and real news items used in the paper
  4. A .pdf file containing the complete survey text

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms Mturk
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 6/2019 – 9/2020
Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 6/16/2019 – 6/20/2019 (Study 1); 9/23/2020 – 9/26/2020 (Study 2)
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) experimental data

Methodology

Data Source:  View help for Data Source Individual responses to Mturk survey experiment.
Collection Mode(s):  View help for Collection Mode(s) web-based survey
Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation Individuals
Geographic Unit:  View help for Geographic Unit State

Related Publications

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Published Versions

V2 [2021-04-03]

V1 [2021-03-16]

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