Articles By

Brendan Nyhan

State media tagging does not affect perceived tweet accuracy: Evidence from a U.S. Twitter experiment in 2022

Claire Betzer, Montgomery Booth, Beatrice Cappio, Alice Cook, Madeline Gochee, Benjamin Grayzel, Leyla Jacoby, Sharanya Majumder, Michael Manda, Jennifer Qian, Mitchell Ransden, Miles Rubens, Mihir Sardesai, Eleanor Sullivan, Harish Tekriwal, Ryan Waaland and Brendan Nyhan

State media outlets spread propaganda disguised as news online, prompting social media platforms to attach state-affiliated media tags to their accounts. Do these tags reduce belief in state media misinformation? Previous studies suggest the tags reduce misperceptions but focus on Russia, and current research does not compare these tags with other interventions.

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Legislator criticism of a candidate’s conspiracy beliefs reduces support for the conspiracy but not the candidate: Evidence from Marjorie Taylor Greene and QAnon

Victor Wu, John Carey, Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler

In November 2020, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene became the first open supporter of QAnon to be elected to the United States Congress. Despite criticism from Democrats, Republicans, and the media for her belief in this dangerous conspiracy theory, Greene remains a prominent national figure and a member of Congress.

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“Fake news” may have limited effects beyond increasing beliefs in false claims

Andrew M. Guess, Dominique Lockett, Benjamin Lyons, Jacob M. Montgomery, Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler

Since 2016, there has been an explosion of interest in misinformation and its role in elections. Research by news outlets, government agencies, and academics alike has shown that millions of Americans have been exposed to dubious political news online. However, relatively little research has focused on documenting the effects of consuming this content.

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