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Published on: September 28, 2018
Intuitions about content moderation are misaligned with effective practices for reducing conspiracy beliefs
Madeline Jalbert1, Morgan Wack2
1University of Washington, Information School, Seattle, USA. mjalbert@uw.edu.
Communications Psychology
|May 29, 2026
Summary
Removing plausible false information online is key to reducing conspiracy beliefs. Laypeople often incorrectly prioritize removing implausible content, hindering effective misinformation interventions.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Media Studies
- Information Science
Background:
- Online misinformation, particularly conspiracy theories, spreads rapidly, outpacing mitigation efforts.
- Understanding which types of false content are most impactful is crucial for effective online content moderation.
- Lay intuitions regarding content removal may not align with evidence-based strategies for reducing false beliefs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify the type of false information (plausible vs. implausible evidence) most critical to remove for reducing conspiracy beliefs.
- To assess whether laypeople's content moderation preferences align with findings on belief reduction.
- To inform more effective online content moderation strategies for combating misinformation.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments involving participants viewing social media posts with false evidence for conspiracy theories.
- Experiment 1 tested the impact of removing plausible vs. implausible evidence on conspiracy belief.
- Experiments 2a-2c examined participants' preferences for moderating different types of false content.
Main Results:
- Removing posts with plausible false evidence significantly decreased conspiracy beliefs.
- Removing posts with implausible evidence did not significantly reduce conspiracy beliefs.
- Participants frequently preferred removing implausible content over plausible content, even when aiming to reduce overall belief.
Conclusions:
- Content moderation decisions based on lay intuitions may be counterproductive, prioritizing less impactful misinformation.
- Effective misinformation interventions require focusing on content that substantively contributes to false beliefs, not just easily identifiable falsehoods.
- Rethinking moderation strategies is necessary to align with empirical findings on belief formation and susceptibility to misinformation.
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