Study says Facebook users are less likely to spread Russian propaganda if source is revealed

A new report by the Rand Corporation finds that Facebook users would be less likely to spread Russian propaganda if they knew it emanated from a Russian source.

Russia uses political memes to polarize Americans, particularly those at the extreme ends of the political spectrum, according to Rand researchers. At the ends of the spectrum, these people are more likely to like and share content that aligns with their political views, thus spreading it.

But rand found that even hyper-partisan consumers are more open to reconsidering their initial response to a Russian meme after its source is revealed.

“Left- and right-wing audiences are particular targets of Russian propaganda efforts, so they naturally have a big reaction because the propaganda speaks to them,” Todd Helmus, the study’s lead author and a senior behavioral scientist at Rand, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group, said. “A big reaction also means a lot of room for improvement in terms of learning how to think critically about the source of a particular news item, and the consequences of passing it along to others.”

To reach its findings, researchers used a randomized controlled trial of more than 1,500 Facebook users to understand how people react emotionally to Russian propaganda. In this case, it focused on memes that Russia used in the 2016 U.S. election cycle. They wanted to find out if labeling the source of a meme could help prevent the spread.

They found that two groups reacted in the strongest and most partisan way to Russian memes. One was categorized as the “Partisan Left,” folks who lean left politically and most often received their news from the New York Times. The other is the “Partisan Right,” people who lean right politically and get their news from Fox News or politically far-right outlets.

These two groups were the most likely to change their minds about liking a meme if the meme is revealed to be from a Russian source.

Given their findings, Rand researchers suggest there may be immense value in developing a third-party software plug-in that could unmask the source of state-sponsored content. They also recommend educating Americans about the presence of Russian propaganda and encouraging them to be suspicious of sources and their intent. Further, researchers point to technological media literacy interventions to reduce the impact of Russian propaganda.

“Media literacy interventions that can be placed on phones or other devices have the potential to help people think through the way they interact with news or media content,” Helmus said.