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Fake News and Advertising on Social Media: A Study of the Anti-Vaccination Movement

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  • Lesley Chiou
  • Catherine Tucker

Abstract

Online sources sometimes publish information that is false or intentionally misleading. We study the role of social networks and advertising on social networks in the dissemination of false news stories about childhood vaccines. We document that anti-vaccine Facebook groups disseminate false stories beyond the groups as well as serving as an “echo” chamber. We also find that after Facebook's ban on advertising by fake new sites, the sharing of fake news articles on Facebook fell by 75% on Facebook compared to Twitter.

Suggested Citation

  • Lesley Chiou & Catherine Tucker, 2018. "Fake News and Advertising on Social Media: A Study of the Anti-Vaccination Movement," NBER Working Papers 25223, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25223
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sofia Amaral-Garcia & Mattia Nardotto & Carol Propper & Tommaso Valletti, 2022. "Mums Go Online: Is the Internet Changing the Demand for Health Care?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(6), pages 1157-1173, November.
    2. Hui Zhao & Xiaoyuan Wang & Debing Ni & Kevin W. Li, 2023. "The Quality-Signaling Role of Manipulated Consumer Reviews," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 503-536, June.
    3. Xiaohui Zhang & Qianzhou Du & Zhongju Zhang, 2022. "A theory‐driven machine learning system for financial disinformation detection," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(8), pages 3160-3179, August.
    4. Arthur Juet, 2023. "The Online Vaccination Debate : The Case of France," Working Papers hal-04053614, HAL.
    5. Aymanns, Christoph & Foerster, Jakob & Georg, Co-Pierre & Weber, Matthias, 2022. "Fake News in Social Networks," SocArXiv y4mkd, Center for Open Science.
    6. Pronkina, Elizaveta & Berniell, Inés & Fawaz, Yarine & Laferrère, Anne & Mira, Pedro, 2023. "The COVID-19 curtain: Can past communist regimes explain the vaccination divide in Europe?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    7. Sherry He & Brett Hollenbeck & Davide Proserpio, 2022. "The Market for Fake Reviews," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(5), pages 896-921, September.
    8. Vincenzo Carrieri & Leonardo Madio & Francesco Principe, 2019. "Vaccine hesitancy and (fake) news: Quasi‐experimental evidence from Italy," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(11), pages 1377-1382, November.
    9. Rehse, Dominik & Tremöhlen, Felix, 2022. "Fostering participation in digital contact tracing," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    10. Bullini Orlandi, Ludovico & Zardini, Alessandro & Rossignoli, Cecilia & Ricciardi, Francesca, 2022. "To do or not to do? Technological and social factors affecting vaccine coverage," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    11. Lesley Chiou & Catherine E. Tucker, 2022. "How Do Restrictions on Advertising Affect Consumer Search?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 866-882, February.
    12. Sofia Amaral-Garcia & Mattia Nardotto & Carol Propper & Tommaso Valletti, 2023. "Information and vaccine hesitancy: the role of broadband Internet," Papers 2023-04, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.
    13. Garz, Marcel & Szucs, Ferenc, 2023. "Algorithmic selection and supply of political news on Facebook," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. Matilde Giaccherini & Joanna Kopinska & Gabriele Rovigatti, 2022. "Vax Populi: The Social Costs of Online Vaccine Skepticism," CESifo Working Paper Series 10184, CESifo.
    15. Nenadić, Iva, 2019. "Unpacking the "European approach" to tackling challenges of disinformation and political manipulation," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 8(4), pages 1-22.

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    JEL classification:

    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

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