Facts are hard to come by: discerning and sharing factual information on social media

Abstract How credulous are we when engaging information on social media? Addressing this question, article aims to understand how individuals’ epistemic vigilance, a set of cognitive mechanisms that comprise our system precaution in interactions, may operate and fall short. Reporting findings from two survey experiments (Study 1, N = 413; Study 2, 392), show participants tended be skeptical toward media news, were reasonably successful identifying true reported tendency share rather than false news. In one study, endorsement enticed higher accuracy rating news posts. both studies, people judged attitudinally congruent posts as being more accurate likelihood them. Individuals’ propensity reflective thinking measured by reflection test potentially operated restraint sharing inaccurate bolstered veracity anchoring their engagement.