Global Effectiveness of Fact-Checking in Reducing Misinformation Beliefs (PNAS 2021)

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2004·PNAS(peer-reviewed)·pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2104235118

Author

Peter Suber

Credibility Rating

5/5

Gold(5)

Gold standard. Rigorous peer review, high editorial standards, and strong institutional reputation.

Rating inherited from publication venue: PNAS

Relevant to AI safety discussions around AI-generated misinformation and content moderation; provides empirical grounding for fact-checking as a mitigation strategy, though the study predates LLM-scale misinformation concerns.

Metadata

Importance: 42/100journal articleprimary source

Summary

A multi-country randomized experiment across Argentina, Nigeria, South Africa, and the UK tested 22 fact-checks and found that fact-checking consistently and durably reduced false beliefs across all contexts. Effects persisted more than two weeks and showed surprisingly little cross-country variation, while exposure to misinformation alone had minimal belief impact.

Key Points

•Fact-checks reduced false beliefs by at least 0.59 points on a 5-point scale; misinformation exposure alone raised false beliefs by less than 0.07 points.
•Effects were durable, with most reductions in false belief still detectable more than 2 weeks after intervention.
•Results were consistent across four culturally and politically diverse countries, suggesting fact-checking generalizes globally.
•Study evaluated 22 distinct fact-checks including two tested across all four countries, providing robust cross-cultural evidence.
•Findings support fact-checking as a scalable, evidence-based intervention relevant to election integrity, public health, and AI-generated misinformation.

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Contents

## Significance

Little evidence exists on the global effectiveness, or lack thereof, of potential solutions to misinformation. We conducted simultaneous experiments in four countries to investigate the extent to which fact-checking can reduce false beliefs. Fact-checks reduced false beliefs in all countries, with most effects detectable more than 2 wk later and with surprisingly little variation by country. Our evidence underscores that fact-checking can serve as a pivotal tool in the fight against misinformation.

## Abstract

The spread of misinformation is a global phenomenon, with implications for elections, state-sanctioned violence, and health outcomes. Yet, even though scholars have investigated the capacity of fact-checking to reduce belief in misinformation, little evidence exists on the global effectiveness of this approach. We describe fact-checking experiments conducted simultaneously in Argentina, Nigeria, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, in which we studied whether fact-checking can durably reduce belief in misinformation. In total, we evaluated 22 fact-checks, including two that were tested in all four countries. Fact-checking reduced belief in misinformation, with most effects still apparent more than 2 wk later. A meta-analytic procedure indicates that fact-checks reduced belief in misinformation by at least 0.59 points on a 5-point scale. Exposure to misinformation, however, only increased false beliefs by less than 0.07 points on the same scale. Across continents, fact-checks reduce belief in misinformation, often durably so.

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The spread of misinformation is a global phenomenon ( [1](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2104235118#core-collateral-r1)). Misinformation is said to have played a role in the Myanmar genocide ( [2](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2104235118#core-collateral-r2)), national elections ( [3](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2104235118#core-collateral-r3)), and the resurgence of measles ( [4](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2104235118#core-collateral-r4)). Scholars have investigated various means of reducing belief in misinformation, including, but not limited to, fact-checking ( [5](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2104235118#core-collateral-r5)– [8](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2104235118#core-collateral-r8)). Yet, despite the global scope of the challenge, much of the available evidence about decreasing false beliefs comes from single-country samples gathered in North America, Europe, or Australia. The available evidence also pays scant attention to the durability of accuracy increases that fact-checking may generate. Prior research has shown that fact-checking can reduce false beliefs in single countries ( [9](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2104235118#core-collateral-r9), 

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