Exploring the Influence of Comment Tone and Content in Response to Misinformation in Social Media News

This study examined whether tone (uncivil vs. civil) of online comments that correct subtle misinformation in a news story would be perceived differently than comments that reinforce the misinformation. A 2 (tone of comment: civil vs. uncivil) × (content of comment: reinforcing or correcting misinformation) online experiment (N = 416) demonstrated that participants perceived civil comments as more credible than uncivil comments. Furthermore, participants perceived comments as more credible if they corrected misinformation in a news story, rather than reinforced the misinformation. However, no significant interaction was found between the tone and content of comments, suggesting participants considered those factors separately when evaluating credibility of comments. Unlike previous findings, results of this study showed that the tone of comments did not influence participants' perceptions of the credibility of the news story.