Love Thy Neighbor: Does Social Capital Explain Belief in Misinformation?

• In Event: What’s Up with WhatsApp? Social Media and Politics in the Global South

Abstract

Does social capital influence belief in misinformation and, in turn, affect political attitudes? Based on contact theory, this paper tests the effects of positive information about intergroup contact received through social media, anticipating that positive information about intergroup relations increases trust and support for public goods. Recognizing that online information is filtered through offline intergroup contexts, it then explores if the influence of informational interventions differs in segregated versus ethnically diverse neighborhoods in urban settings. To empirically assess these expectations, we design a field experiment containing an informational intervention distributed through WhatsApp in the Indian cities of Kolkata and Lucknow. By doing so, the paper offers two contributions. First, it tests the efficacy of residential segregation along lines of ethnic identity as a proxy measure for social capital. Second, it investigates the role social capital, in form of in-group and intergroup trust, plays toward belief in misinformation in social media-mediated political communication, and its downstream effects on political behavior.

Author

• Sayan Banerjee, Texas Tech University