Regulating and Preventing the Spread of Fake News Online: Comparing Strategies in the United States and the European Union
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The rise of fake news and disinformation campaigns that spread rapidly online is cause for worldwide concern. Fake news has the potential to polarize public opinion, promote hate speech, undermine democracy and fracture the social fabric that holds together our communities. The United States, where a constitutional commitment to free speech makes regulation of online platforms difficult, relies almost exclusively on self-governance and community standards adopted by social media platforms. The European Union, on the other hand, has taken a more proactive approach by enacting transparency standards and passing legislation that imposes high fines on those social media companies that do not promptly remove content that has been flagged as fake. This thesis assesses which of these approaches to regulating fake news is more effective, with special focus on the labeling of fake content that is thought to be a critical policy tool aimed at reducing the spread of misinformation online. My research evaluates the effect of government-mandated labels vis à vis labels added by social media companies themselves, taking into account party affiliation, educational levels and other factors thought to influence agreement with news content and the likelihood a fake news item is reposted. To answer this question, I designed an experimental survey to evaluate the response of individuals in the U.S. to different regulatory approaches. The survey was released to a representative sample of about 3,000 users in March 2024. I find that labels, regardless of whether they are from the social media company or the government, do not make a significant difference in whether or not individuals repost fake news. I do find some small heterogeneous effects when subsetting data by political affiliation; Republicans were more likely to repost content with a government-mandated EU-style label compared to Democrats and Independents, while Independents were least likely to repost content with a social media label. Respondents without a college degree were also more likely to repost content despite a government label. While significant, these effects are quite small. My research suggests that in the United States additional government regulations implemented in close cooperation with social media companies will be necessary in order to successfully combat the spread of fake news on social media.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | [ca. March 2023 - May 2024] |
| Publication date | May 15, 2024; May 15, 2024 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Mohanpuhr, Anuka |
|---|---|
| Advisor | Tomz, Michael |
Subjects
| Subject | Fake news |
|---|---|
| Subject | Social media |
| Subject | Misinformation |
| Subject | NetzDG |
| Subject | Communications Decency Act of 1996 (United States) |
| Subject | Freedom of speech |
| Subject | Content moderation |
| Subject | Labeling fake news |
| Genre | Text |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY).
Preferred citation
- Preferred citation
- Mohanpuhr, A. and Tomz, M. (2024). Regulating and Preventing the Spread of Fake News Online: Comparing Strategies in the United States and the European Union. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/tb244bm4921. https://doi.org/10.25740/tb244bm4921.
Collection
Stanford University, Program in International Relations, Honors Theses
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- Contact
- anuka@stanford.edu
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