Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/305724 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17282
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We design an online experiment that mimics a Twitter/X "feed" to test whether (perceived) poster gender influences users' propensity to doubt the veracity of a given post. On average, posts by women are less likely to be flagged as concerning than identical posts by men. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that men are more likely to flag female-authored posts as the post's topic domain becomes more male-stereotyped. Female users do not exhibit the same bias. Actual post veracity, user ideology, and user familiarity with Twitter do not explain the findings. Flagging behavior on Twitter's crowdsourced fact-checking program is consistent with these findings.
Subjects: 
gender differences
misinformation
economic experiments
JEL: 
C90
D9
J16
L86
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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