Sustaining Exposure to Fact-Checks
Research co-authored by Shelley Liu looking at misinformation discernment, media consumption and political implications is published in the American Political Science Review.
A recent study co-authored by Shelley Liu, assistant professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy and affiliate of the Duke Center for International Development, examines the impact of sustained exposure to fact-checks on misinformation discernment and its political implications.
Conducted in South Africa, the six-month intervention delivered biweekly fact-checks via WhatsApp, either as text messages or podcasts. The findings reveal that consistent exposure to these fact-checks significantly improved participants' ability to identify new political and health misinformation upon exposure—especially when fact-check consumption was financially incentivized. Fact-checks that could be quickly consumed via short text messages or via podcasts with empathetic content were found to be most effective.
Co-authored by Liu and Jeremy Bowles, Kevin Croke, Horacio Larreguy and John Marshall,
"Sustaining Exposure to Fact-Checks: Misinformation Discernment, Media Consumption, and Its Political Implications" is published in the American Political Science Review.