Foreign Faces in the False: Immigrant-Targeting False Posts on Social Media and Their Impact on Immigrant Perceptions

This work investigates three interrelated questions around false information targeting immigrants as a broad social group on U.S. social media (thereafter referred to as immigrant-targeting false SNS claims). Study 1 examines content-level features that potentially attract readers’ attention: a quantitative analysis of PolitiFact data showed that relative to those not specifically about immigrants, immigrant-targeting false SNS claims exhibited a stronger negative tone and were more about race-related issues. Study 2 experimentally investigates the effects of immigrant-targeting SNS claims with distinctive media frames (defined as claims emphasizing either economic or health-related concerns) and that of corrective approach (with vs. without fact-checking flags): participants who viewed immigrant-targeting SNS claims flagged as false reported lower threat and anxiety perceptions and higher positive trait perceptions than those who viewed unflagged claims. Regarding the reference groups—specifically, “legal” versus “illegal” immigrants—participants associated with their perceived anxiety, the effect of fact-checking flags was conditional on the SNS claims’ media frames. Study 2 also uncovered that cognitive reflection and actively open-minded thinking play distinct roles in shaping how people respond to immigrant-targeting misinformation and fact-checking labels.