Replication Data for: The Cultivation of Credulous Citizens: Information control and fake news detection in China

The growing spread of fake news is widely recognized as a threat to democracy. What about authoritarian societies? Is fake news a force for reinforcing or weakening authoritarian rule? Who believes fake news, and why? To explore these questions, we conducted a true/false news detection quiz with 2,234 participants in China. Our survey yields two major findings. First, respondents’ ability to detect fake news is significantly shaped by whether the content aligns with official propaganda: they are more capable of identifying falsehoods inconsistent with propaganda but more likely to accept fake news consistent with propaganda. Second, contrary to conventional wisdom, higher education and media literacy increase the likelihood of believing propaganda-consistent fake news in China. These results suggest that China’s information control regime fosters the emergence of ``Credulous Citizens''. Our study contributes to a deeper understanding of authoritarian resilience in China and advances the comparative politics of misinformation.