State media tagging does not affect perceived tweet accuracy: Evidence from a U.S. Twitter experiment in 2022

• DOI: 10.37016/mr-2020-173
• Publication Date: 2025-02-20T21:43:31Z
• Authors: Claire Betzer; Montgomery Booth; Beatrice Cappio; Alice Cook; Madeline Gochee; Benjamin Grayzel; Leyla Jacoby; Sharanya Majumder; Michael Manda; Jennifer Qian; Mitchell Ransden; Miles Rubens; Mihir Sardesai; Eleanor Sullivan; Harish Tekriwal; Ryan Waaland; Brendan Nyhan
• Keywords: Affect; Microblogging

State media outlets spread propaganda disguised as news online, prompting social platforms to attach state-affiliated tags their accounts. Do these reduce belief in state misinformation? Previous studies suggest the misperceptions but focus on Russia, and current research does not compare with other interventions. Contrary expectations, a preregistered U.S. experiment found no effect of Twitter-style false claims, seemingly because they were rarely noticed. By contrast, fact-check labels decreased information from outlets. We recommend design that are more visible users.