Anger and Echo-Chambers: The Sharing of Fake News

• In Event: The Role of Emotions in Politics

Abstract

Social media is becoming an increasingly important source of political information. At the same time, however, social media is also the main conduit for so-called ‘fake news’. We do not yet fully understand the forces underlying the spread of false information on social media, but negative emotions and echo-chambers––like-minded enclaves where social media users do not receive counter-attitudinal information––likely play an important role, both independently and in conjunction with each other. In two lab experiments conducted with students in Turkey and in the UK, I test 1) whether anger and whether being in an echo-chamber affects people’s propensity to share fake news, and 2) whether there is an interactive effect between being angry and being in an echo-chamber on the sharing of false information. In the experiments, I first randomise exposure to anger, which is induced through autobiographical recall. All subjects then read a fabricated news article, after which they are randomly assigned to chat groups with a like-minded or an oppositional participant. My analysis suggests that both the ‘anger’ and ‘echo-chamber’ treatments make people more likely to share inaccurate information. However, only the latter treatment effect is statistically significant.

Author

• Simge Andi, Koç University