Dysfunctional Information Sharing on WhatsApp and Facebook: The Role of Political Talk, Cross-Cutting Exposure and Social Corrections



Rossini, Patricia ORCID: 0000-0002-4463-6444, Stromer-Galley, Jennifer, Baptista, Erica Anita and Oliveira, Vanessa
(2021) Dysfunctional Information Sharing on WhatsApp and Facebook: The Role of Political Talk, Cross-Cutting Exposure and Social Corrections. New Media and Society, 23 (8). 0-0.

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Abstract

In this study, we investigate dysfunctional information sharing on WhatsApp and Facebook, focusing on two explanatory variables—frequency of political talk and cross-cutting exposure—and potential remedies, such as witnessing, experiencing, and performing social corrections. Results suggest that dysfunctional sharing is pervasive, with nearly a quarter reporting sharing misinformation on Facebook and WhatsApp, but social corrections also occur relatively frequently. Platform matters, with corrections being more likely to be experienced or expressed on WhatsApp than Facebook. Taken together, our results suggest that the intimate nature of WhatsApp communication has important consequences for the dynamics of misinformation sharing, particularly with regard to facilitating social corrections.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: disinformation, Facebook, misinformation, social media, WhatsApp
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 01 May 2020 10:44
Last Modified: 18 Jan 2023 23:53
DOI: 10.1177/1461444820928059
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3085525