Can warnings curb the spread of fake news? The interplay between warning, trust and confirmation bias

Despite attempts by social media companies to curb the spread of fake news with warnings flagging news credibility, the effectiveness of such measures remains unclear. Through the lens of the cognitive dissonance theory and individuals’ trust in the news, this study develops a theoretical model that explains why and how warnings affect an individual’s intention to share fake news. The study empirically assesses the predicted relationships using experimental survey data from 382 individuals. The findings provide evidence for two processes that underlie the effectiveness of warnings in curbing fake news sharing: (1) warnings negatively impact intention to share fake news through the psychological mechanism of lowering people’s cognitive and emotional trust in the news and (2) warnings mitigate the impact of cognitive trust on intention to share fake news. Confirmation bias is found to serve as a boundary condition for the effectiveness of warnings in lowering individuals’ cognitive and emotional trust in the news and in reducing the impacts of trust on an individual’s intention to share fake news.