Abstract
The spread of misinformation, especially within online clusters of like-minded individuals, poses a critical threat to democracies, increasingly leading to radicalization and mobilized violence worldwide. How can we dispel misinformation within online groups? Extending works on group norms and social identity to online groups, I argue that corrections delivered by users within an online group can reduce group members’ misperceptions. Using four original studies from South Korea, I provide observational and experimental evidence that confirms the prevalence of peer corrections, the existence of bias in favor of online ingroup, and the effectiveness of ingroup peer corrections in reducing misperceptions. These results highlight the importance of leveraging the influence of online groups to correct misinformation, offering a potentially scalable solution to combat misinformation in the digital age. This study contributes to our understanding of digital publics and their effects on attitude change and persuasion.
Committee Chair
Margit Tavits
Committee Members
Erik Musiek; Andrea Tenner; Michael Diamond; Terrance Kummer
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Author's Department
Political Science
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
5-8-2025
Language
English (en)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7936/8ed1-2s70
Author's ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1982-9890
Recommended Citation
Kim, Dahjin, "Correcting Misinformation in Online Groups" (2025). Arts & Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 3483.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.7936/8ed1-2s70