From Uniformed to Disinformed Citizens? - Comparing Western Information Environments

Social media users in six countries (representative quota sample)

The representative sample was defined by the countries' quota in age, gender, and education. Social media users are defined as all people that used at least one of the following social networking platforms at least monthly ("How frequently do you use the following social media sites and messaging platforms for any reason (for example for information, entertainment, work, etc.)?"*): Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, other social media platform. *5-point scale: never, less often, monthly, weekly, daily

The online survey contains an experimental part where the participants were exposed to various stimuli: Each participant saw all three false claims in a social media post (concerning Covid-19, climate change, and migration), but the stimuli varied in a 2x2 between subjects design (sensationalism vs. neutral style; high vs. low amount of likes, shares, and comments).

1,661 Facebook posts (most popular) published by the five most popular alternative media outlets from France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, and the US

We identified five alternative media per country using three steps. First, we consulted previous studies to create a list of outlets, media coverage, and expert knowledge and then checked for cross-references to those outlets to build a list of alternative media that was as complete as possible for each country. Second, we reviewed the outlets’ online mission statements or “about us” sections to determine whether each outlet met the alternative media criteria, either implicitly or explicitly. The relevant words and expressions included, for example, being an alternative, presenting other views/voices, covering what others overlook/ignore/under-report, and being independent from, critical of, and/or different from the established/large/powerful mainstream. Third, we sampled five alternative media per country and chose those with the largest numbers of FB-followers and that were engaged in regular activity at the time.

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