Extended Data Fig. 4: How does news returned in Google search results affect belief in misinformation? (Study 5) - excluding original article in search results analysis.
From: Online searches to evaluate misinformation can increase its perceived veracity
Panel a presents the proportion of individuals who, when searching online about a false/misleading or true article, are exposed to different levels of unreliable news sites in Google search results. Panel b presents the average treatment effects and 95 percent confidence intervals for linear regression models measuring the effect of searching online during Study 5 (N = 1,485) as a unit of the standard deviation of the dependent variable. Searching online increased the probability a respondent rated a false/misleading article as true. Subsetting the treatment group by the quality of news returned in their search engine results, Panel c and d present these same average treatment effects and 95 percent confidence intervals. Panel c shows that the probability an individual rates misinformation as true is higher than the control group among respondents who are exposed to at least one unreliable news site (N = 986). The probability an individual a false/misleading article as true is not different than the control group among respondents who are exposed to only very reliable news (N = 958). Panel d shows that the probability an individual rates a false/misleading article as true than the control group among respondents who are exposed to the lowest quartile of news quality (N = 1,006) and second lowest quartile of news quality (N = 1,005). The probability an individual rates a false/misleading article as true is not different than the control group among respondents who are exposed to the second highest quartile of news quality (N = 1,005) and the highest quartile of news quality (N = 1,006). All effects are estimated using ordinary least squares with article fixed effects and standard errors clustered at the individual and article level.
