Title: Replication Data for: Countering misinformation via WhatsApp: Preliminary evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe

Type Dataset Bowles, Jeremy, Larreguy, Horacio, Liu, Shelley (2020): Replication Data for: Countering misinformation via WhatsApp: Preliminary evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe. Harvard Dataverse. Dataset. https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/MDF4SO

Authors: Bowles, Jeremy (Harvard University) ; Larreguy, Horacio (Harvard University) ; Liu, Shelley (University of California, Berkeley) ; Bowles, Jeremy (Harvard University) ;

Links

• Item record in Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Dataverse
• Digital object URL

Summary

We examine how information from trusted social media sources can shape knowledge and behavior when misinformation and mistrust are widespread. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe, we partnered with a trusted civil society organization to randomize the timing of the dissemination of messages aimed at targeting misinformation about the virus to 27,000 newsletter WhatsApp subscribers. We examine how exposure to these messages affects individuals’ beliefs about how to deal with the virus and preventative behavior. In a survey of 864 survey respondents, we find a 0.26σ increase in knowledge about COVID-19 as measured by responses to factual questions. Through a list experiment embedded in the survey, we further find that potentially harmful behavior—not abiding by lockdown guidelines—significantly decreased. The results show that social media messaging from trusted sources may have substantively large effects not only on individuals’ knowledge but also ultimately on related behavior.

More information

• DOI: 10.7910/DVN/MDF4SO

Subjects

• Social Sciences

Dates

• Publication date: 2020
• Submitted: September 22, 2020
• Updated: September 22, 2020

Rights

• info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ CC0 Waiver

Format

electronic resource