From Lack of Concerns to Complicity: How Misinformation Concerns Influences Fake News Sharing on WhatsApp via the Partisan Legitimation of Fake News

Objectives Misinformation has emerged as an important threat to democracies, fostering severe concerns among citizens worldwide. However, even in this context, research emphasizes that citizens play a crucial role in the dissemination of falsehoods on social media. While previous studies argued that most users unintentionally share fake news when misjudging its accuracy, recent evidence points to partisan identity as a stronger predictor of this behavior. This study puts the literature on misinformation concerns and fake news sharing into dialogue to better understand the associations in time of this behavior. We focus on WhatsApp, a prominent platform for the circulation of falsehoods which has remained relatively understudied. Methods This study draws on a two‐wave panel survey fielded in Spain (N = 570) between May 2022 and July 2022. Results We conceptualize the legitimation of partisan use of fake news—the belief that using falsehoods to criticize opposing ideologies is legitimate—and show that it mediates the relationship between misinformation concerns and fake news sharing on WhatsApp. We also show that social media news use and age predict, positively and negatively respectively, both legitimation of partisan use of fake news and fake news sharing. The direct effect of misinformation concerns on fake news sharing is non‐statistically significant. Conclusion Overall, the study illustrates how, in the current polarized environment, fake news may be weaponized to serve partisan interests.