You’re Definitely Wrong, Maybe: Correction Style Has Minimal Effect on Corrections of Misinformation Online

How can online communication most effectively respond to misinformation posted on social media? Recent studies examining the content of corrective messages provide mixed results—several suggest that politer, hedged may increase engagement with corrections, while others favor direct messaging which does not shed doubt credibility message. Furthermore, common debunking strategies often include keeping message simple and clear, recommend including a detailed explanation why initial is incorrect. To more light how correction style affects efficacy, we manipulated both strength (direct, hedged) explanatory depth (simple explanation, explanation) in response participants from Lucid (<em>N</em> = 2,228) who indicated they would share false story survey experiment. We found minimal evidence suggesting or engagement, terms likelihood replying, accepting resisting information. However, do find analytic thinking actively open-minded are associated greater acceptance information messages, regardless style. Our results help elucidate efficacy user-generated corrections media.