Dare to share? how anti-disinformation policies affect online news-sharing behavior in Türkiye

Abstract

For the past decades, governments and social media companies have attempted to combat the spread of misinformation online by developing new regulations around online technologies. While these attempts have successfully curbed the spread of misinformation in many instances, there have also been cases where such regulations have violated the freedom of expression due to the uncertainty surrounding the definition of misinformation (Cipers et al., 2023). This thesis aims to explore how these strategies to combat misinformation affect the way ordinary citizens engage with news online in an authoritarian-leaning context. In doing so, it investigates the impact of recent counter-misinformation regulation in Turkiye, publicly known as the disinformation or censorship law, on news-sharing behavior. Employing a 2x2 between-subjects online survey experiment among 228 Turkish college student, the study seeks to understand whether exposure to information about the law and the mode of online identity (anonymous vs. real) affects individuals’ news-sharing tendencies. Although the salience of the law and the different modes of online identity does not significantly affect news-sharing attitudes as a model, the salience of the law alone has a significant negative relationship with sharing likelihood when all control variables were included in the analysis. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of striking a balance between countering misinformation and protecting freedom of expression online.