Effects of state-sponsored political posts on perceived credibility and persuasion

Abstract

In recent years, social media platforms like Facebook have begun labeling social media messages as state-sponsored if they are funded and controlled by authoritarian governments. However, the effectiveness of these labels remains unclear. To explore that, this study examined how political posts by state-controlled media and an NGO would affect their perceived credibility and persuasiveness both immediately after exposure and after a delay. Results from our experiments showed that although participants rated the posts by state-controlled media lower on credibility and persuasiveness than an NGO immediately after exposure, such differences diminished after a delay. The initial negative perceptions of the posts by state-controlled media weakened over time. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications.