Displaying News Source Trustworthiness Ratings Reduces Sharing Intentions for False News Posts

Professional fact-checking of individual news headlines is an effective way to fight misinformation, but it not easily scalable, because cannot keep pace with the massive speed at which content gets posted on social media. Here we provide evidence for effectiveness ratings sources, instead articles. In a large pre-registered experiment quota-sampled Americans, find that participants are less likely share false (and more discerning true versus headlines) when 1-to-5 star trustworthiness were applied headlines. This both generated by fact-checkers and laypeople (although effect stronger using fact-checker ratings). We also observe positive spillover effect: sharing discernment increases whose source was rated, presence some prompts users reflect quality generally. study suggests displaying information regarding sources provides scalable approach reducing spread low-quality information.