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Reading news on social media boosts knowledge, discernment and trust

Nature Human Behaviour volume 9, pages 1768–1769 (2025)Cite this article

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We estimate the causal effects of following the news on social media by randomly assigning participants to follow either news or non-news accounts on social media. Participants who followed news accounts became more knowledgeable, better able to distinguish true from false news, and more trusting of the news.

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Fig. 1: The positive effects of reading news on social media.

References

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Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Altay, S. et al. Following news on social media boosts knowledge, belief accuracy and trust. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02205-6 (2025).

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Reading news on social media boosts knowledge, discernment and trust. Nat Hum Behav 9, 1768–1769 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02206-5

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