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Free keywords:
Fake news; Disinformation; News credibility; Endorsement-based heuristic;
Social media
Abstract:
Focusing on a widespread COVID-19 conspiracy theory, this study examines how social
endorsement systems on Twitter, represented by retweets and metrics indicating the
number of engagements by others, affect assessment of credibility of (fake) news.
Expanding studies on social influence and endorsement-based heuristics, we hypothesized
that Twitter users would consider fake news retweeted by a strong tie and with cues
indicating a greater number of likes, comments, and retweets as more credible than news
retweeted by a celebrity and without the cues. Through a two-by-two survey experiment
among 267 Twitter users, we found evidence to support these hypotheses. We additionally
found that the effectiveness of strong ties and celebrities as retweeters varied by users’
perceptions of their attributes and users’ interactions with them. These findings add to the
literature of news credibility by demonstrating the effects of endorsements from social
media contacts. Our study partly explains how and why fake news and disinformation
spread in the networked online environment. We conclude this study by discussing
implications for interventions of fake news on social media
