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Sharing News Left and Right: The Effects of Policies Targeting Misinformation on Social Media

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  • Daniel Ershov
  • Juan S. Morales

Abstract

We study Facebook’s and Twitter’s policy interventions which aimed to reduce the spread of misinformation during the 2020 US election. Facebook changed its news feed algorithm to reduce the visibility of content, while Twitter changed its user interface, nudging users to be thoughtful about sharing content. Using data on tweets and Facebook posts published by news media outlets, we show both policies significantly reduced news sharing, but the reductions varied heterogeneously by outlets’ factualness and political slant. On Facebook, content sharing fell relatively more for low-factualness outlets. On Twitter, content sharing fell relatively more for left-wing and high-factualness outlets.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Ershov & Juan S. Morales, 2021. "Sharing News Left and Right: The Effects of Policies Targeting Misinformation on Social Media," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 651, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    • Handle: RePEc:cca:wpaper:651
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Pierluigi Conzo & Andrea Gallice & Juan S. Morales & Margaret Samahita & Laura K. Taylor, 2021. "Can Hearts Change Minds? Social media Endorsements and Policy Preferences," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 641, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
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    5. Gordon Pennycook & Ziv Epstein & Mohsen Mosleh & Antonio A. Arechar & Dean Eckles & David G. Rand, 2021. "Shifting attention to accuracy can reduce misinformation online," Nature, Nature, vol. 592(7855), pages 590-595, April.
    6. Morales, Juan S., 2021. "Legislating during war: Conflict and politics in Colombia," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    7. Hunt Allcott & Matthew Gentzkow, 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election," NBER Working Papers 23089, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Sacha Altay & Emma Hoes & Magdalena Wojcieszak, 2025. "Following news on social media boosts knowledge, belief accuracy and trust," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 9(9), pages 1833-1842, September.
    2. Krzysztof Krakowski & Juan S Morales, 2025. "Does political violence backfire in mature democracies? Evidence from the Capitol insurrection in the USA," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 62(5), pages 1479-1497, September.
    3. Juan S. Morales & Anne E. Wilson, 2025. "Partisan Conflict on Social Media: Empirical Evidence and Policy Challenges," EconPol Forum, CESifo, vol. 26(04), pages 52-57, October.
    4. Berger, Lara Marie & Kerkhof, Anna & Mindl, Felix & Münster, Johannes, 2025. "Debunking “fake news” on social media: Immediate and short-term effects of fact-checking and media literacy interventions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    5. Marcel Caesmann & Janis Goldzycher & Matteo Grigoletto & Lorenz Gschwent, 2024. "Censorship in Democracy," Papers 2406.03393, arXiv.org.
    6. Alexandre De Cornière & Miklos Sarvary, 2023. "Social media news: content bundling and news quality," Post-Print hal-04067655, HAL.
    7. Alexandre de Cornière & Miklos Sarvary, 2023. "Social Media and News: Content Bundling and News Quality," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(1), pages 162-178, January.
    8. Nathan Goldstein & David Lagziel & Ohad Raveh, 2025. "Political Rational Inattention: A New Measure With an Application to Political Polarization," Working Papers 2511, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    9. Stöhr, Annika & Rösch, Jürgen & Kuchinke, Björn A. & Budzinski, Oliver, 2025. "Twitter/X, Fake News und Demokratie: Ein ökonomischer Blick auf Media Bias und den Markt für Fehlinformationen im digitalen Zeitalter," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 203, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    10. Gonzalo Cisternas & Jorge Vásquez, 2022. "Misinformation in Social Media: The Role of Verification Incentives," Staff Reports 1028, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

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    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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