Social media is often blamed for spreading falsehoods and distorting beliefs. Two recent studies push back on that story, finding that social media use has surprisingly little effect on belief in misinformation.
Untrustworthy sources on Facebook and Instagram in 2020: Concentrated exposure but no attitudinal effects
Olivier Bergeron-Boutin, Brendan Nyhan, Jaime Settle, Emily Thorson, Magdalena Wojcieszak et al. Science Advances, July 29, 2026.
Researchers reduced how much untrustworthy content people saw on their Facebook and Instagram feeds for three months — and it had no effect on their belief in false claims.
The limited effects of social media use on misperceptions
Qin Li, Robert M. Bond, Erik Nisbet, Graham Dixon, Shelly Hovik, Kilhoe Na, Duane Wegener & R. Kelly Garrett. PLOS ONE, September 30, 2026.
Researchers tracked people’s real social media use during the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media use had no correlation with people’s susceptibility to misinformation.
Prebunking misinformation techniques in social media feeds: Results from an Instagram field study
Sander van der Linden, Debra Louison-Lavoy, Nicholas Blazer, Nancy S. Noble & Jon Roozenbeek. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, January 2026.
Social media can still be part of the solution. A 19-second video on how spot emotional manipulation on social media, when shown to real Instagram users, made them better at spotting manipulative information for up to five months.