Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/289919 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-1363
Publisher: 
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC
Abstract: 
Previous research has extensively investigated why users spread misinformation online, while less attention has been given to the motivations behind sharing fact-checks. This paper reports a four-country survey experiment assessing the influence o f c onfirmation and refutation frames on engagement with online fact-checks. Respondents randomly received semantically identical content, either affirming accurate information ("It is TRUE that p") or refuting misinformation ("It is FALSE that not p"). Despite semantic equivalence, confirmation frames elicit higher engagement rates than refutation frames. Additionally, confirmation frames reduce self-reported negative emotions related to polarization. These findings are crucial for designing policy interventions aiming to amplify fact-check exposure and reduce affective polarization, particularly in critical areas such as health-related misinformation and harmful speech.
Subjects: 
Misinformation
Fact-checking
Social media
JEL: 
D83
D91
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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