How Fake News Fuels Nationalism: Experimental Evidence from China and Ukraine

• In Event: Information and Misinformation in Autocracy: Evidence from China

Abstract

Throughout history, governments often used nationalism as a tool of advancing state interests. Fake news can have a central role in constructing, transforming, and intensifying nationalism. The use of fake news and misinformation by state and non-state actors is even more widespread today in the age of social media. This article examines the relationships between fake news and nationalism in China and Ukraine. We use online survey experiments to get public opinion data from the two countries to test whether and to what extent fake news may fuel nationalism and influence public opinion. We specifically use an experimental procedure embedded in two surveys of internet users'in China and Ukraine. Preliminary findings suggest that fake news that exaggerates national capabilities of a home country can help enhance nationalism and encourage public support for a more aggressive foreign policy, especially in times of military conflicts or trade disputes. Such impassioned nationalism may be hard to cool down even with the rebuttal of fake news. Rebuttals generally reduce people's belief in the specific content of fake news, but often do not decrease their fervent support for the aggressive policy, unless the government brings forth substantial and vivid evidence as a rebuttal. However, rebuttals may be ineffective as the government will find it difficult to control nationalism once it was ignited by fake news. We conclude by suggesting a way to rethink the role of audience costs in the new digital age. These findings have rich implications for the studies of nationalism in general and domestic audience costs in particular.

Authors

• Chengli Wang, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

• Nataliia Kasianenko