The Paradox of Participation Versus Misinformation: Social Media, Political Engagement, and the Spread of Misinformation

Valenzuela, Sebastián; Halpern, Daniel; Katz, James E.; Miranda, Juan Pablo.

Abstract

The mechanisms by which users of platforms such as Facebook and Twitter spread misinformation are not well understood. In this study, we argue that the effects of informational uses of social media on political participation are inextricable from its effects on misinformation sharing. That is, political engagement is both a major consequence of using social media for news as well as a key antecedent of sharing misinformation. We test our expectations via a two-wave panel survey of online media users in Chile, a country experiencing information disorders comparable to those of the global North. Analyses of the proposed and alternative causal models with two types of structural equation specifications (fixed effects and autoregressive) support our theoretical model. We close with a discussion on how changes in the way people engage with news and politics - brought about by social media - have produced a new dilemma: how to sustain a citizenry that is enthusiastically politically active, yet not spreading misinformation?

Más información

Título según WOS: The Paradox of Participation Versus Misinformation: Social Media, Political Engagement, and the Spread of Misinformation
Título según SCOPUS: The Paradox of Participation Versus Misinformation: Social Media, Political Engagement, and the Spread of Misinformation
Título de la Revista: DIGITAL JOURNALISM
Volumen: 7
Número: 6
Editorial: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Fecha de publicación: 2019
Página de inicio: 802
Página final: 823
Idioma: English
DOI:

10.1080/21670811.2019.1623701

Notas: ISI, SCOPUS - WOS Core Collection ISI