Replication Data for: How Language Shapes Belief in Misinformation: A Study Among Multilinguals in Ukraine

Scholarship has identified key determinants of people's belief in misinformation, predominantly from English-language contexts. However, multilingual citizens often consume news media in multiple languages. We study how language of consumption affects belief in misinformation and true news articles in multilingual environments. We suggest that language may pass on specific cues affecting how bilinguals evaluate information. In a ten-week survey experiment with bilingual adults in Ukraine, we measure if subjects evaluating information in their less-preferred language were less likely to believe it. We find those who prefer Ukrainian are less likely to believe both false and true stories written in Russian by approximately .2 standard deviation units. Conversely, those who prefer Russian show increased belief in false stories in Ukrainian, though this effect is less robust. A secondary digital media literacy intervention does not increase discernment as it reduces belief in both true and false stories equally.

学术界已识别出影响人们对错误信息（misinformation）信任度的关键决定因素，但这些研究主要基于英语语境。然而，多语言使用者通常会通过多种语言获取新闻媒体内容。本研究旨在探讨在多语言环境中，信息消费所用语言如何影响人们对错误信息和真实新闻的信任度。我们认为，语言可能传递特定线索，从而影响双语者对信息的评估方式。在乌克兰开展的一项针对双语成年人的十周调查实验中，我们测量了受试者在使用其非偏好语言评估信息时是否更不容易相信该信息。研究发现，偏好乌克兰语的受试者对俄语撰写的虚假和真实故事的信任度均降低了约0.2个标准差单位。相反，偏好俄语的受试者对乌克兰语撰写的虚假故事信任度有所上升，但这一效应的稳健性较低。一项辅助性数字媒体素养干预措施并未提高受试者的辨别能力，因为它对真实和虚假故事的信任度均产生了同等程度的降低作用。