People rely on their existing political beliefs to identify election misinformation
Sora Park, Jee Young Lee, Kieran McGuinness, Caroline Fisher and Janet Fulton
Rather than assuming that people are motivated to fact-check, we investigated the process that people go through when and if they encounter political misinformation. Using a digital diary method, we asked 38 participants to collect examples of political misinformation during Australia’s 2025 federal election and explain why they determined it to be misinformation (n = 254).
Emotional resonance and participatory misinformation: Learning from a K-pop controversy
Sungha Kang, Rachel E. Moran and Jin Ha Lee
In today’s digital media environment, emotionally resonant narratives often spread faster and stick more firmly than verifiable facts. This paper explores how emotionally charged communication in online controversies fosters not only widespread engagement but also the participatory nature of misinformation. Through a case study of a K-pop controversy, we show how audiences act not just as consumers but as co-authors of alternative narratives in moments of uncertainty.
Prebunking misinformation techniques in social media feeds: Results from an Instagram field study
Sander van der Linden, Debra Louison-Lavoy, Nicholas Blazer, Nancy S. Noble and Jon Roozenbeek
Boosting psychological defences against misleading content online is an active area of research, but transition from the lab to real-world uptake remains a challenge. We developed a 19-second prebunking video about emotionally manipulative content and showed it as a Story Feed ad to N = 375,597 Instagram users in the United Kingdom.