A digital media literacy intervention increases discernment between mainstream and false news in the United States and India

Widespread belief in misinformation circulating online is a critical challenge for modern societies. While research to date has focused on psychological and political antecedents to this phenomenon, few studies have explored the role of digital media literacy shortfalls. Using data from preregistered survey experiments conducted around recent elections in the United States and India, we assess the effectiveness of an intervention modeled closely on the world's largest media literacy campaign, which provided "tips" on how to spot false news to people in 14 countries. Our results indicate that exposure to this intervention reduced the perceived accuracy of both mainstream and false news headlines, but effects on…

• BY
  Brigham Young University
• GW
  George Washington University
• UO
  University of Washington
• KL
  KU Leuven
• GU
  Göteborgs Universitet
• HK
  Harvard Kennedy School