Labelling Trump lies as disputed makes supporters believe them more, study finds

A recent study has found that labeling tweets from Donald Trump that contain false claims about election fraud as "disputed" may inadvertently reinforce the beliefs of his supporters rather than correct them. Conducted by researchers John Blanchar and Catherine Norris, the study involved 1,072 participants who ranked the truthfulness of Trump's tweets. The results indicated that Trump voters who were initially skeptical of election fraud claims were more likely to rate these falsehoods as true when they were tagged as "disputed." In contrast, Biden voters remained largely unaffected by the tags, while third-party voters showed a slight decrease in belief in the false claims. The researchers noted that politically knowledgeable Trump supporters were particularly resistant to corrections, with the "disputed" labels strengthening their belief in misinformation. This finding raises questions about the effectiveness of labeling systems on social media platforms, especially in a politically polarized environment. The study's limitations include its timing during the 2020 election and the unique distrust of Twitter among conservatives at that time. The authors suggest that the backfire effect observed may be linked to this distrust, as supporters may perceive the tags as attempts to restrict their autonomy.

- Labeling false claims as "disputed" may reinforce beliefs among Trump supporters.

- Politically knowledgeable Trump voters showed increased belief in misinformation when exposed to disputed tags.

- Biden voters' beliefs were largely unaffected by the labeling.

- The study highlights potential limitations of misinformation labeling on social media.

- Distrust of platforms like Twitter may contribute to the backfire effect observed in the study.