The Lacuna Project

lacuna (n.) a gap in a record where something should be

Independent research. Not affiliated with any government, agency, or company.

Exhibit 725

Reshares on social media amplify political news but do not detectably affect beliefs or opinions

Exhibit 725 ยท Peer-reviewed study

Reshares on social media amplify political news but do not detectably affect beliefs or opinions

Contrary to expectations, the treatment does not significantly affect political polarization or any measure of individual-level political attitudes.

Randomized removal of reshares from Facebook feeds during the 2020 election.

Source
Guess, Malhotra, Pan, Barbera, Allcott et al. (Science)
Date
28 July 2023
Quoted from
Abstract
Grade
Peer-reviewed
Document
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add8424
Accessed
2026-11-09
Cited by
Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding POL-3.8
Peer-reviewed In randomized experiments run with Meta during the 2020 election, switching users to chronological feeds, removing reshares, reducing exposure to like-minded sources and deactivating accounts changed what users saw and produced no significant change in polarization.