Media Sharers
Web Appendix G - Robustness Analyses: Mentions in Tweets
| Web Appendix H - Robustness Alternative Measures
---
\- Alternative Emotions Measures via NRC
\- Alternative Emotions Measures via MTurk Coded Emotions.
Web Appendix I - Comparison of MagicSauce to Park et al. (2005)
Web Appendix J - Fake-news Articles Content Analysis
Web Appendix K - Political vs. Non-political Fake-news Sharers
Web Appendix L - Details on Fake-news Sharer Predictions
Web Appendix M - Mediated Moderation (Anger) Study 3b
Web Appendix N - Exclusions Field Study
Web Appendix O - Anxiety Field Experiment
Web Appendix P - Heterogeneous Effect Analyses

## Web Appendix A - Data Sources for Snopes Dataset

Table WA1: List of Fake-News Articles Used

snapchat-shutting-end-2017-prank/
indian-ocean-earthquake-tsunami-prediction-2017/
colorado-infant-become-first-pot-overdose-death/
bulldog-saves-sleeping-children/
ryan-zinke-dead-elephant/
trump-turkey-pardons-reversed/
actor-harry-shearer-leaving-simpsons/
did-elderly-woman-train-cats-to-steal/
has-tony-podesta-been-arrested-in-the-mueller-investigation/
was-grand-juror-clinton-probe-dead/
iceland-mandates-mental-health-warnings-on-all-bibles/
jay-z-said-satan-is-our-true-lord-and-only-idiots-believe-in-jesus/
hpv-kissing-aids/
did-canada-legalize-euthanasia-children-disabilities/
morgue-employee-cremated-nap/
did-nfl-team-declare-bankruptcy-protests/
did-germany-release-statement-denouncing-u-s/
bob-marley-cia/
media/notnews/imaginarycrime.asp
bbc-pedophilia-journalist-dead/
media/iftrue/anthony.asp
media/notnews/elvishomeless.asp
seven-witnesses-to-vegas-shooting-died-suspicious/
child-abduction-kansas/
muslim-self-defense/
roy-moores-accusers-arrested-charged-falsification/
hpv-kissing-aids/
tiger-woods-paternity/
girl-disconnect-life-support-plug-in-charger/
jared-kushner-go-saudi-arabia-doesnt-extradition-treaty-us/
morgan-freeman-jailing-hillary-restore-faith/
george-washington-historic-church-plaque/
sandra-bullock-trump-clinton/
425-pound-teacher-suspended-sitting-student-farting-mouth/
ghost-on-camera-hallways-ireland-school/
john-mccain-fire-uss-forrestal/
frederica-wilson-veterans/
weinstein-fbi-names/
creepy-clowns-halloween-night-purge/
drag-queen-library/
chad-nishimura-mandalay-bay-las-vegas/
creepy-clown-haunted-house-massacre/
trump-mocks-trudeau-celebrating-thanksgiving-six-weeks-early/
new-research-yellowstone-eruption-occur-sooner/
kaepernick-anthemk-stand-if-signed/
is-antifa-planning-a-civil-war/
surgeon-clinton-foundation-corruption-haiti/
birmingham-caught-voting-multiple-times/
keaton-jones-beaten-robbed-gofundme-bullying/
judi-dench-harvey-weinstein-tattoo/
democrat-principal-defecates-in-front-of-students-during-pledge-of-allegiance/
morgan-freeman-death-hoax/
does-arctic-ice-doubt-reality-climate-change/
nike-cowboys/
jared-kushner-register-vote-new-york-woman/
fbi-seizes-3000-penises-raid-morgue-employees-home/
is-the-trump-administration-puerto-rico-evacuees/
steelers-villanueva-police-brutality-protest/
is-it-illegal-florida-power-home-solar-storm/
nfl-refunds/
pedophiles-decapitated-corpse-found-on-judges-doorstep-after-bail-hearing/
ashley-judd-middle-east-women-rights/
hillary-clinton-hurricane-irma-florida-hillbillies/
alec-baldwin-arrested-trump/
man-head-stuck-wife/
media/notnews/humanmeat.asp

Note: 62 articles were published in 2017, one of these refers to a story from
2008 but was published in 2017. Four articles are from 2015.

Table WA2: Fake-news and Fact-check Outlets’ Twitter Accounts Used to Quantify
Fake-News and Fact-Check Outlet Followership and Mentions of Fake-News and
Fact-Check Outlets in Tweets

thegatewaypundit.com
conservativetribune.com
zerohedge.com
rickwells.us
thepoliticalinsider.com
therightscoop.com
teaparty.org
thefederalistpapers.org
21stcenturywire.com
activistpost.com
addictinginfo.org
beforeitsnews.com
bipartisanreport.com
bluenationreview.com
breitbart.com
burrardstreetjournal.com
callthecops.net
christiantimes.com
christwire.org
chronicle.su
clickhole.com
coasttocoastam.com
collective-evolution.com
consciouslifenews.com
counterpsyops.com
dailybuzzlive.com
dailycurrant.com
dcclothesline.com
derfmagazine.com
disclose.tv
duffelblog.com
duhprogressive.com
empirenews.net
empiresports.co
enduringvision.com
flyheight.com
freewoodpost.com
geoengineeringwatch.org
globalresearch.ca
gomerblog.com
hangthebankers.com
huzlers.com
ifyouonlynews.com
infowars.com
intellihub.com
itaglive.com
lewrockwell.com
liberalamerica.org
libertytalk.fm
libertyvideos.org
nationalreport.net
naturalnews.com
newsbiscuit.com
newslo.com
nowtheendbegins.com
occupydemocrats.com
other98.com
politicalblindspot.com
politicususa.com
prisonplanet.com
realfarmacy.com
realnewsrightnow.com
redstate.com
rockcitytimes.com
stuppid.com
theblaze.com
thedailysheeple.com
thedcgazette.com
thelapine.ca
thenewsnerd.com
theonion.com
therundownlive.com
thespoof.com
truthfrequencyradio.com
twitchy.com
veteranstoday.com
weeklyworldnews.com
wnd.com
worldtruth.tv
yournewswire.com

Note: Fact-check outlets were FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.com, Snopes.com,
TruthOrFiction.com, and RealClearPolitics.com. Clicking on any domain listed
in this table will lead to the associated Twitter account.

Table WA3: Twitter Brand Accounts for Random Sample Brands
---
3M | Boost Mobile | CW | FX Network
7eleven | Bose | Daily Beast | GameStop
A & E Network | Boston Consulting Group | Dallas Cowboys | Gap
ABC News | Boston Globe | Dallas Mavericks | GE
Abercrombie | Breaking News | DAVHQ | General Motors
Academy Sports + Outdoors | British Airways | DC Shoes | General Nutrition Corporation
Ace Hardware | Broncos | DC Skateboarding | Gilt
ACLU | Brooklyn Nets | Dell | GitHub
Acura | Bud Light | Delta | Glassdoor
Adidas | Budweiser | Denny’s | Gmail
Adobe | Buffalo Wild Wings | Detroit Lions | Golden State Warriors
Adobe InDesign | Buick | Detroit Pistons | Goldman Sachs
Aeropostale | Burberry | Deutsche Bank | Golf Channel
Air Canada | Burger King | Dick’s Sporting Goods | Golf.com
Airbnb | Burt’s Bees | Diesel | Google
Airbus | Burton | Dior | Google Chrome
Al Jazeera English | BuzzFeed | Discovery | Google Earth Outreach
Alaska Airlines | C-SPAN | Disney | Google Maps
alzassociation | CA Technologies | DocuSign | Google News
Amazon | Cabelas | Dodge | Google Talk
AMD | Cadillac | Dogfish Head | Green Bay Packers
American Airlines | Callaway Golf | Dolce & Gabbana | Greenpeace
American Apparel | Calvin Klein | Dollar Tree | Groupon
American Cancer Society | Capital One | Dominos | Gucci
American Eagle Outfitters | CARE | Donna Karan | Guess
American Heart Association | Carolina Panthers | dosomething | H&M
American Red Cross | Caterpillar | Dr Pepper | Habitat for Humanity
AMNH | CBS TV | Dreamworks | Harper’s Magazine
Anthropologie | Celtics | Dropbox | Hautelook
AOL | Century 21 | Drudge Report | HBO
App Store | Champs Sports | DucksUnlimited | Heineken
Apple | Chanel | Dunkin’ Donuts | HGTV
Apple News | Chargers | E! News | Hilton Hotels
Applebees | Chase | Ebay | History
Arbys | Cheesecake Factory | Ebony Magazine | Holiday Inn
Arizona Cardinals | Chevrolet | Economist | Hollister
Armani | Chevron | Electronic Arts | Home Depot
artinstitutechi | Chicago Bears | Emirates | HomeGoods
ASPCA | Chicago Bulls | EnvDefenseFund | Honda
Aston Martin | Chicago Tribune | ESPN | Hotmail
AT&T | Chick-fil-A | Estee Lauder | Houston Rockets
Atlanta Falcons | Chili’s | Etihad Airways | Houston Texans
Atlanta Hawks | Chipotle | Etsy | HP
Atlantic | Chloe | Evernote | hrw
Audi | Chobani | Expedia | HSBC
Audible | Chrysler | Express | Hugo Boss
Avon | Cincinnati Bengals | ExxonMobil | Hulu
Babies’R’Us | CISCO | EY News | Hyundai
Bain & Company | Citibank | Facebook | IBM
Banana Republic | Citigroup | Fairmont | IHOP
Bank of America | Citrix | Fedex | IMAX
Barclays | Cleveland Browns | FeedingAmerica | IMDb
bareMinerals | Cleveland Cavaliers | feedthechildren | Infiniti
Barnes & Nobles | Clinique | Fendi | Instagram
Barneys New York | ClintonFdn | Ferragamo | Intel
BBC AMERICA | CNBC | Ferrari | InterContinental
BBC News | CNET | Fiat Chrysler | Invesco
BCBG Max Azria | CNN | Fidelity Investments | iShares
Bed Bath & Beyond | CNN Money | Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) | iTunes
Benefit | Coach | Financial Times (@FT) | J.Crew
Bentley Motors | Cobra Golf | Finish Line Inc. | Jack Daniels
Bergdorf Goodman | Coca Cola | Firefox | Jacksonville Jaguars
Best Buy | Cognizant | Flickr | Jaegermeister
BGEA | Columbia Sportswear | Foot Locker | Jaguar
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Comedy Central | Footaction | Java
Bing | compassion | Forbes | JBL
Bitcoin | ConocoPhillips | Ford | JC Penney
Black Entertainment Television | ConservationOrg | Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts | Jetblue
BlackRock | Consumer Reports | FOX Business | Jim Beam
Bloomberg | Converse | Fox News | Jimmy Choo
Bloomberg Businessweek | Coors Light | FOX Sports | Jo-Ann Stores
Bloomingdale’s | Country Music Television | Fox Sports 1 | John Deere
BMW | Coursera | Fox Sports Motor | JP Morgan
Bobbi Brown | Covergirl | Fox TV | Juicy Couture
Boeing | creativecommons | Franklin Templeton Investments | Karl Lagerfeld
Booking.com | Credit Suisse | Free People | kate spade
Twitter Brand Accounts for Random Sample - Continued Brands
---
Kayak | Monster | Pinterest | Stand Up to Cancer
Keen | MontereyAq | Pizza Hut | Staples
Kenneth Cole | Morgan Stanley | Polo Ralph Lauren | Star Alliance
Keurig | Mountain Hardwear | Porsche | Starbucks
KFC | Mozilla | Pottery Barn | Starwood Hotels
Kia Motors | MSF | PPact | Steelers
Kickstarter | MSF USA | PPFA | StJude
Kmart | MSN | Prada | Subaru
Kohls | MSN Money | Procter & Gamble | Subway
Korean Air | MSNBC | Public Broadcasting Service | Susan G. Komen
Kroger | MTV | Publix | Syfy
LA Clippers | MuseumModernArt | Puma | Symantec
Lacoste | Myspace | Qualcomm | T-Mobile
Lakers | National Geographic (@NatGeo) | Quiznos | T.J.Maxx
Lancome | National Geographic (@NatGeoMag) | Quora | Taco Bell
Lands’ End | National Rifle Association | QVC | Target
Last.fm | nature_org | RadioShack | Tata Consultancy Services
Leading Hotels of the World | Nautica | Raiders | Tata Group
Lenovo | NBC | Ravens | TaylorMade
Levi’s | NBC News | Raytheon Co | TeachForAmerica
Lexus | Neiman Marcus | Red | Telemundo
LG Mobile | Nest | Red Hat | Tennis Channel
Lifetime Television | Net-A-Porter | Red Lobster | Tesla
Linkedin | Netflix | Redbox | TGI Fridays
Linux | New Balance | Reddit | The Week
LivingSocial | New Belgium Brewing Company | Reebok | theIRC
Lockheed Martin | New England Patriots | Rei | TheStreet
Logitech | New Orleans Saints | Renaissance Hotels | Thomson Reuters
Los Angeles Rams | New York Giants | Revlon | Threadless
Los Angeles Times | New York Jets | Ritz-Carlton | Ticketmaster
Louis Vuitton | New York Knicks | Roberto Cavalli | Tiffany & Co.
Lowe’s | New York Times | Roche | Timberland
Lufthansa | New Yorker | Rolling Stone | TIME
Lululemon | Newsweek | Rolls Royce | Titleist
Lush | NFL Network | Rotary | TNT Drama
Lyft | ngadc | Rotten Tomatoes | Tommy Hilfiger
MAC Cosmetics | NHL Network | Roxy | Toronto Raptors
Macy’s | NHL on NBC | Saks Fifth Avenue | Toshiba
Make-A-Wish-Foundation | Nickelodeon | Salesforce.com | Toyota
Maker’s Mark | Nike | Salon | Toys’R’Us
Mandarin Oriental | Nintendo | Sam’s Club | Travelocity
Market Watch | Nissan | SamaritansPurse | Travelzoo
Marks & Spencer | Nordstrom | Samsung Mobile | Tripadvisor
Marmot | North Face | San Francisco 49ers | truTV
Marriott International | Northrop Grumman | SanDisk | Tumblr
Marshalls | Norton Antivirus Security | SAP | TWCO
Martha Stewart | Novartis | Save the Children | Twitter
Mary Kay | NPR | save_children | U.S. News
Maserati | nypl | Seagate Hotel & Spa | U.S. Open (Golf)
Masters Tournament | Old Navy | Seamless | Uber
Maybelline | Olive Garden | Sears | UBS
MayoClinic | operationbless | Seattle Seahawks | Udacity
Mazda | Oracle | Sephora | UGG
Mc Donalds | Orbitz | Sheetz | Under Armour
McKinsey | Oxfam America | Shell | UNICEF
Medium | Oxygen | Sherwin Williams | Unilever
MentalHealthAm | Pacers | Showtime | United Way
Mercedes Benz | PacSun | Siemens | Universal Music Group
Merck | Panera Bread | Sierra Club | UPS
mercycorps | Papa John’s Pizza | Sierra Nevada | Urban Decay
Merrell | Paramount Pictures | Singapore Airlines | Urban Outfitters
Merrill Lynch | Patagonia | Sixers | USA Today
metmuseum | Patron | Skype | Valentino
MetOpera | Paypal | Smarty Pig | Vanguard Group
Miami Dolphins | Pelicans | smithsonian | Vanity Fair
Miami Heat | Pepsi | Snapchat | Vans
Michael Kors | PETA | Sony | Vera Wang
Michaels Stores | PETCO | Southwest Airlines | Verizon Wireless
Microsoft | PetSmart | SpaceX | Versace Official
Miller Lite | Pfizer | Speedway | VH1
Mint | Philadelphia Eagles | Spike | Viber
MLB Network | Philips | Spotify | Victoria’s Secret
ModCloth | Pier 1 Imports | Sprint | Vikings
Money | PIMCO | Spurs | Vimeo
MoneyGram | Ping | Square | Virgin Atlantic

Twitter Brand Accounts for Random Sample - Continued Brands
---
vmware | WE (www.we.org) | Wikipedia | Yahoo! News
Volvo | Wells Fargo | Women’s British Open | Yelp
Vox | Wendy’s | World Vision | YouTube
Walgreens | Western Union | WWF | Yves Saint Laurent
Wall Street Journal | WFP | WWFUS | Zumiez
Walmart | WFPUSA | wwp | Zynga
Washington Post | WhatsApp | Yahoo |
Washington Redskins | Whole Foods Market | Yahoo! Finance |
Washington Wizards | Wikileaks | Yahoo! Music |

## Web Appendix B - Socio-demographics and Media Followership Snopes and Hoaxy
sample

| Fake-news Sharers | Fact-check Sharers | Random Sample
---|---|---|---
No of Users | 1,727 | 671 | 1,820
Political followership |  |  |
Democrats | 16.91% | 32.94% | 11.26%
Republicans | 33.99% | 15.95% | 16.1%
Both | 14.36% | 19.82% | 5.88%
None | 34.74% | 31.3% | 66.76%
Demographics |  |  |
Age | 32.60 | 32.19 | 30.42
Proportion Male | 63.29% | 59.02% | 55.66%
Social Media Usage Behavior |  |  |
Friends | 2,294 | 2,392 | 764
Followers | 4,450 | 10,197 | 1,709
Ratio Followers Friends | 3.79 | 36.47 | 11.34
Statuses | 30,072 | 33,552 | 7,240
Tweets per day | 10.55 | 11.68 | 2.45
Location |  |  |
Blue States | 43.49% | 53.8% | 41.76%
Red States | 28.26% | 22.35% | 34.12%
Swing States | 28.26% | 23.85% | 24.12%
News/Media Outlets Followed |  |  |
Salon | 11.12% | 17.29% | 1.43%
Wikileaks | 27.74% | 17.44% | 5.05%
Dailybeast | 15.34% | 21.76% | 2.75%
New Yorker | 19.8% | 26.83% | 8.68%
Economist | 16.44% | 17.73% | 5.88%
Wall Stree Journal | 24.72% | 24.89% | 10.55%
Washington Post | 25.88% | 36.51% | 9.84%
The New York Times | 31.56% | 41.88% | 16.92%
CNN | 26.11% | 32.64% | 14.01%
LA Times | 11.06% | 15.05% | 3.13%
USA Today | 16.97% | 18.18% | 4.84%
Buzzfeed | 13.09% | 15.2% | 6.37%
Aljazeera English | 8.05% | 14.16% | 2.09%
Fox News | 27.62% | 15.8% | 8.3%
Drudge Report | 21.6% | 9.39% | 2.42%
| Fake-news | Fact-check | Left Leaning | Right Leaning
---|---|---|---|---
| Sharers | Sharers | Media Sharers | Media Sharers
No of Users | 236 | 315 | 290 | 207
Political followership |  |  |  |
Democrats | 9.32% | 23.49% | 25.86% | 10.63%
Republicans | 53.81% | 24.44% | 12.07% | 25.6%
Both | 20.76% | 25.71% | 24.48% | 26.09%
None | 16.1% | 26.35% | 37.59% | 37.68%
Demographics |  |  |  |
Age | 32.71 | 32.54 | 34.80 | 35.54
Proportion Male | 69.92% | 56.83% | 66.21% | 69.57%
Social Media Usage Behavior |  |  |  |
Friends | 6,425 | 2,232 | 4,593 | 3,131
Followers | 20,532 | 117,617 | 98,366 | 72,408
Ratio Followers Friends | 18.94 | 136.54 | 473.77 | 157.08
Statuses | 61,090 | 27,024 | 43,094 | 30,220
Tweets per day | 23.42 | 14.17 | 14.10 | 9.93
Location |  |  |  |
Blue States | 46.61% | 54.29% | 66.55% | 76.81%
Red States | 28.81% | 21.27% | 15.86% | 11.11%
Swing States | 24.58% | 24.44% | 17.59% | 12.08%
News/Media Outlets Followed |  |  |  |
Salon | 10.59% | 12.06% | 17.24% | 9.18%
Wikileaks | 41.95% | 21.59% | 15.86% | 14.49%
Dailybeast | 16.95% | 14.6% | 20% | 20.29%
New Yorker | 20.76% | 20.32% | 35.17% | 30.43%
Economist | 21.61% | 16.83% | 26.21% | 34.78%
Wall Stree Journal | 28.81% | 22.86% | 35.52% | 56.04%
Washington Post | 29.66% | 35.24% | 44.83% | 44.44%
The New York Times | 33.47% | 39.05% | 52.76% | 47.34%
CNN | 27.12% | 38.73% | 35.17% | 29.95%
LA Times | 16.1% | 14.92% | 22.07% | 14.98%
USA Today | 19.07% | 19.37% | 24.83% | 16.91%
Buzzfeed | 13.14% | 14.6% | 19.31% | 15.94%
Aljazeera English | 14.83% | 7.94% | 15.86% | 11.11%
Fox News | 47.46% | 28.89% | 16.21% | 27.05%
Drudge Report | 45.34% | 15.24% | 12.41% | 21.74%

## Web Appendix C - Propensity Score Matching

For creating a group of matched users (i.e., similar socio-demographics,
political affiliation, and social-media activity to fake-news sharers), we
first randomly sampled an additional set of random users (n = 1,320), combined
it with the random user sample (n = 1,820) and used propensity score matching
(matchit package in R). This procedure resulted in 1,725 users in the matched
user group. As shown in Table WC-1, the samples match well except for the
number of tweets per day (all p’s except for # tweets per day $>$ 0.05). Even
after the matching, fake-news sharers are more active on social media
(p$<$0.01). To further investigate whether the activity of Twitter can explain
our results, we replicate our analysis with a sample that is only matched to
the social media activity and find similar results.

Figure WC-1: Covariate Balance Matched Sample Snopes dataset

## Web Appendix D - Robustness Snopes Sample Operationalization

Below we present the results of mutiple robustness test of our
operationaliztion of fake-news sharers. We compare the results from our
exploratory analysis of the language of fake-news sharers to two different
groups of fake-news sharers that were excluded from our Snopes sample: 1)
fake-news sharers that did not provide their location on their Twitter
profile, and 2) users that shared both a fake-news article and a fact-check
article. Additionally, we also test the robustness of our results by comparing
two sub-samples of fake-news sharers: fake-news sharers that shared only one
fake-news article vs. fake-news sharers that shared more than one fake-news
article from our Snopes sample of fake-news articles.

_Robustness Fake-News Sharers that Indicate No Location_

We only included fake-news sharers in our sample for whom we could identify
the location - accessed via the self-provided information on Twitter. We did
so in order to be 1) able to compare fake-news sharers to other groups based
on this information (red vs. blue states), and 2) use the location as a
matching criterion to create our matched sample.

To verify whether our results are robust to the focus on users that provide
their location on their Twitter profile, we collected the tweets for a random
sample of fake-news sharers that did not provide their location and were thus
excluded from the original Snopes sample of fake-news sharers. We compare the
sub-sample of fake-news sharers that did not provide their location (842
users) to the Snopes sample of fake-news sharers that did provide their
location and to the random sample. Table B1 below shows all differences
between the two fake-news sharer samples and the random group. We find that
the differences between the fake-news sharers and the random group persist
when comparing fake-news sharers that did not indicate their location.
Focusing on the key textual cues we identified in our exploratory analysis
(power, anger, religion) and comparing the fake-news sharer group that did not
indicate their location (NFN), the fake-news sharer group that indicated their
location (FN), and the random sharer group, we find:

  1. 1.

Power-related words: FN $=$ NFN $>$ Random users (similar finding when
focusing on fake-news sharers who do not share location)

  2. 2.

Religion-related words: FN $>$ NFN $=$ Random users (fake-news sharers who do
not share location have a similar number of mentions of religious words)

  3. 3.

Anger-related words: FN $>$ NFN $>$ Random users (similar finding when
focusing on fake-news sharers who do not share location)

Overall, we can conclude that there is no systematic evidence that the
exclusion of fake-news sharers who did not indicate their location biases our
results.

Table WD1: Comparison Snopes Fake Sharers No Location | Fake | Fake | t-value | Random | t-value | Matched | t-value | Fact
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| News | News | (p-value) | Group | (p-value) | Group | (p-value) | Checkers
| Snopes (1) | No Location (2) | 1 vs. 2 | (3) | 3 vs. 2 | (4) | 4 vs. 2 |
Word Count | 21280.361 | 38249.417 | -19.675 ( 0.000 ) | 18401.074 | -23.222 ( 0.000 ) | 22328.980 | -18.444 ( 0.000 ) | 23477.387
Analytic | 80.682 | 83.340 | -5.275 ( 0.000 ) | 69.411 | -24.059 ( 0.000 ) | 75.493 | -14.323 ( 0.000 ) | 76.995
Clout | 70.011 | 71.469 | -3.483 ( 0.001 ) | 63.849 | -15.703 ( 0.000 ) | 66.450 | -10.613 ( 0.000 ) | 69.547
Authentic | 25.840 | 22.947 | 4.490 ( 0.000 ) | 42.021 | 28.031 ( 0.000 ) | 37.226 | 21.214 ( 0.000 ) | 22.447
Emotional Tone | 51.260 | 47.068 | 3.840 ( 0.000 ) | 71.868 | 24.002 ( 0.000 ) | 71.198 | 23.097 ( 0.000 ) | 47.859
Words $>$ 6 letters | 24.198 | 23.657 | 2.556 ( 0.011 ) | 20.866 | -13.127 ( 0.000 ) | 22.279 | -6.536 ( 0.000 ) | 24.552
Dictionary | 71.690 | 69.482 | 4.372 ( 0.000 ) | 75.331 | 11.569 ( 0.000 ) | 73.861 | 8.637 ( 0.000 ) | 71.562
Function Words | 39.017 | 37.632 | 3.881 ( 0.000 ) | 41.335 | 10.405 ( 0.000 ) | 40.323 | 7.522 ( 0.000 ) | 40.416
Pronoun | 10.094 | 9.422 | 4.624 ( 0.000 ) | 12.597 | 21.197 ( 0.000 ) | 11.381 | 13.205 ( 0.000 ) | 10.825
Personal Pronouns | 6.512 | 6.037 | 4.585 ( 0.000 ) | 8.893 | 25.302 ( 0.000 ) | 7.773 | 15.832 ( 0.000 ) | 6.908
1st Person Singluar | 2.600 | 2.146 | 6.179 ( 0.000 ) | 4.752 | 30.474 ( 0.000 ) | 3.814 | 20.584 ( 0.000 ) | 2.709
1st Person Plural | 0.660 | 0.756 | -5.351 ( 0.000 ) | 0.670 | -4.259 ( 0.000 ) | 0.702 | -2.649 ( 0.008 ) | 0.678
2nd Person | 1.743 | 1.556 | 4.619 ( 0.000 ) | 2.440 | 19.968 ( 0.000 ) | 2.194 | 14.386 ( 0.000 ) | 1.840
3rd Personl Singular | 0.924 | 0.902 | 0.941 ( 0.347 ) | 0.609 | -13.334 ( 0.000 ) | 0.612 | -12.940 ( 0.000 ) | 1.037
3rd Person Plural | 0.584 | 0.676 | -5.810 ( 0.000 ) | 0.428 | -16.913 ( 0.000 ) | 0.457 | -14.649 ( 0.000 ) | 0.644
Impersonal Pronouns | 3.576 | 3.382 | 3.615 ( 0.000 ) | 3.698 | 6.077 ( 0.000 ) | 3.603 | 4.176 ( 0.000 ) | 3.912
Articles | 5.175 | 5.327 | -2.491 ( 0.013 ) | 4.750 | -9.414 ( 0.000 ) | 5.059 | -4.331 ( 0.000 ) | 5.295
Prepositions | 11.648 | 11.382 | 2.243 ( 0.025 ) | 10.712 | -5.628 ( 0.000 ) | 11.187 | -1.635 ( 0.102 ) | 11.194
Auxiliary Verbs | 5.703 | 5.403 | 4.087 ( 0.000 ) | 6.125 | 9.913 ( 0.000 ) | 5.872 | 6.381 ( 0.000 ) | 6.122
Adverbs | 3.702 | 3.280 | 8.107 ( 0.000 ) | 4.424 | 21.642 ( 0.000 ) | 4.134 | 16.154 ( 0.000 ) | 3.985
Conjunctions | 3.507 | 3.557 | -0.994 ( 0.321 ) | 3.814 | 5.126 ( 0.000 ) | 3.685 | 2.534 ( 0.011 ) | 3.838
Negate | 0.896 | 0.869 | 1.632 ( 0.103 ) | 0.940 | 4.139 ( 0.000 ) | 0.852 | -0.988 ( 0.324 ) | 1.007
Verbs | 12.215 | 11.384 | 6.671 ( 0.000 ) | 13.520 | 16.923 ( 0.000 ) | 12.860 | 11.648 ( 0.000 ) | 12.620
Adjectives | 4.390 | 4.196 | 3.798 ( 0.000 ) | 4.517 | 6.268 ( 0.000 ) | 4.556 | 6.821 ( 0.000 ) | 4.155
Compare | 1.719 | 1.723 | -0.185 ( 0.854 ) | 1.702 | -0.808 ( 0.419 ) | 1.734 | 0.379 ( 0.704 ) | 1.745
Interrogatives | 1.273 | 1.180 | 4.937 ( 0.000 ) | 1.288 | 5.535 ( 0.000 ) | 1.224 | 2.244 ( 0.025 ) | 1.356
Number | 0.682 | 0.684 | -0.247 ( 0.805 ) | 0.657 | -2.089 ( 0.037 ) | 0.671 | -1.070 ( 0.285 ) | 0.677
Quantifiers | 1.560 | 1.535 | 1.040 ( 0.298 ) | 1.661 | 4.948 ( 0.000 ) | 1.692 | 5.990 ( 0.000 ) | 1.628
Affect | 6.452 | 5.803 | 8.461 ( 0.000 ) | 7.275 | 18.343 ( 0.000 ) | 6.829 | 12.750 ( 0.000 ) | 6.263
Positive Emotions | 3.941 | 3.520 | 5.923 ( 0.000 ) | 5.096 | 21.801 ( 0.000 ) | 4.860 | 18.173 ( 0.000 ) | 3.729
Negative Emotions | 2.464 | 2.237 | 5.972 ( 0.000 ) | 2.128 | -2.705 ( 0.007 ) | 1.917 | -8.030 ( 0.000 ) | 2.483
Anxiety | 0.286 | 0.272 | 1.813 ( 0.070 ) | 0.217 | -7.545 ( 0.000 ) | 0.209 | -8.691 ( 0.000 ) | 0.283
Anger | 1.021 | 0.923 | 4.536 ( 0.000 ) | 0.852 | -2.986 ( 0.003 ) | 0.736 | -8.073 ( 0.000 ) | 1.033
Sadness | 0.421 | 0.379 | 5.395 ( 0.000 ) | 0.435 | 6.951 ( 0.000 ) | 0.385 | 0.830 ( 0.407 ) | 0.424
Social | 8.775 | 8.684 | 0.917 ( 0.359 ) | 9.088 | 3.916 ( 0.000 ) | 8.765 | 0.780 ( 0.436 ) | 8.978
Family | 0.402 | 0.395 | 0.675 ( 0.500 ) | 0.479 | 6.317 ( 0.000 ) | 0.423 | 1.986 ( 0.047 ) | 0.360
Friend | 0.325 | 0.284 | 4.409 ( 0.000 ) | 0.454 | 15.022 ( 0.000 ) | 0.403 | 11.440 ( 0.000 ) | 0.304
Female Words | 0.615 | 0.585 | 1.797 ( 0.073 ) | 0.580 | -0.273 ( 0.785 ) | 0.512 | -4.250 ( 0.000 ) | 0.603
Male Words | 1.094 | 1.050 | 1.975 ( 0.048 ) | 0.893 | -7.007 ( 0.000 ) | 0.867 | -8.037 ( 0.000 ) | 1.182
Cognitive Processes | 8.096 | 7.626 | 4.822 ( 0.000 ) | 8.342 | 7.229 ( 0.000 ) | 8.146 | 5.180 ( 0.000 ) | 8.753
Insight | 1.688 | 1.555 | 5.748 ( 0.000 ) | 1.619 | 2.656 ( 0.008 ) | 1.636 | 3.283 ( 0.001 ) | 1.798
Cause | 1.340 | 1.331 | 0.452 ( 0.651 ) | 1.281 | -2.471 ( 0.014 ) | 1.308 | -1.110 ( 0.267 ) | 1.395
Discrepancies | 1.251 | 1.130 | 6.167 ( 0.000 ) | 1.382 | 12.488 ( 0.000 ) | 1.279 | 7.477 ( 0.000 ) | 1.345
Tentative | 1.761 | 1.620 | 5.119 ( 0.000 ) | 1.886 | 9.717 ( 0.000 ) | 1.865 | 8.834 ( 0.000 ) | 1.975
Certain | 1.316 | 1.253 | 3.033 ( 0.002 ) | 1.355 | 5.014 ( 0.000 ) | 1.292 | 1.899 ( 0.058 ) | 1.367
Differentiation | 1.811 | 1.728 | 2.796 ( 0.005 ) | 1.873 | 4.895 ( 0.000 ) | 1.817 | 2.929 ( 0.003 ) | 2.065
Perceptional Processes | 2.737 | 2.523 | 4.545 ( 0.000 ) | 2.838 | 6.646 ( 0.000 ) | 2.725 | 4.274 ( 0.000 ) | 2.482
See | 1.402 | 1.304 | 2.604 ( 0.009 ) | 1.393 | 2.322 ( 0.020 ) | 1.360 | 1.490 ( 0.136 ) | 1.191
Hear | 0.802 | 0.712 | 5.613 ( 0.000 ) | 0.746 | 2.094 ( 0.036 ) | 0.722 | 0.606 ( 0.544 ) | 0.786
Feel | 0.401 | 0.379 | 1.688 ( 0.092 ) | 0.530 | 11.593 ( 0.000 ) | 0.476 | 7.490 ( 0.000 ) | 0.380
Bio | 2.010 | 1.985 | 0.579 ( 0.563 ) | 2.616 | 12.989 ( 0.000 ) | 2.356 | 7.396 ( 0.000 ) | 1.799
Body | 0.559 | 0.543 | 1.107 ( 0.268 ) | 0.764 | 12.522 ( 0.000 ) | 0.636 | 5.453 ( 0.000 ) | 0.517
Health | 0.593 | 0.690 | -4.551 ( 0.000 ) | 0.592 | -4.347 ( 0.000 ) | 0.573 | -4.950 ( 0.000 ) | 0.530
Sexual | 0.226 | 0.219 | 0.609 ( 0.542 ) | 0.232 | 1.062 ( 0.288 ) | 0.194 | -1.997 ( 0.046 ) | 0.229
Ingestion | 0.554 | 0.488 | 3.088 ( 0.002 ) | 0.763 | 10.914 ( 0.000 ) | 0.762 | 9.791 ( 0.000 ) | 0.452
Drives | 7.907 | 7.921 | -0.168 ( 0.867 ) | 7.616 | -3.629 ( 0.000 ) | 7.676 | -2.883 ( 0.004 ) | 7.575
Affiliation | 2.143 | 2.265 | -2.925 ( 0.004 ) | 2.553 | 6.227 ( 0.000 ) | 2.490 | 4.889 ( 0.000 ) | 2.026
Achieve | 1.358 | 1.362 | -0.194 ( 0.847 ) | 1.510 | 6.083 ( 0.000 ) | 1.574 | 8.422 ( 0.000 ) | 1.283
Power | 3.345 | 3.343 | 0.039 ( 0.969 ) | 2.311 | -19.986 ( 0.000 ) | 2.468 | -16.602 ( 0.000 ) | 3.180
Reward | 1.430 | 1.298 | 4.735 ( 0.000 ) | 1.905 | 21.768 ( 0.000 ) | 1.828 | 18.326 ( 0.000 ) | 1.353
Risk | 0.616 | 0.610 | 0.537 ( 0.591 ) | 0.438 | -15.276 ( 0.000 ) | 0.452 | -13.841 ( 0.000 ) | 0.619
Past Focus | 2.465 | 2.555 | -2.110 ( 0.035 ) | 2.463 | -2.136 ( 0.033 ) | 2.380 | -4.008 ( 0.000 ) | 2.579
Present Focus | 8.376 | 7.615 | 8.182 ( 0.000 ) | 9.756 | 22.678 ( 0.000 ) | 9.233 | 17.266 ( 0.000 ) | 8.574
Future Focus | 1.015 | 0.987 | 1.767 ( 0.077 ) | 1.312 | 18.539 ( 0.000 ) | 1.199 | 11.833 ( 0.000 ) | 0.980
Relativity | 12.637 | 12.317 | 2.463 ( 0.014 ) | 13.325 | 7.849 ( 0.000 ) | 13.381 | 8.170 ( 0.000 ) | 11.645
Motion | 1.695 | 1.585 | 4.962 ( 0.000 ) | 1.963 | 16.143 ( 0.000 ) | 1.899 | 12.856 ( 0.000 ) | 1.552
Space | 6.507 | 6.183 | 3.833 ( 0.000 ) | 6.002 | -2.207 ( 0.027 ) | 6.312 | 1.541 ( 0.123 ) | 6.005
Time | 4.562 | 4.668 | -1.559 ( 0.119 ) | 5.566 | 13.038 ( 0.000 ) | 5.355 | 9.838 ( 0.000 ) | 4.200
Work | 2.702 | 2.758 | -0.976 ( 0.329 ) | 2.082 | -11.256 ( 0.000 ) | 2.430 | -5.150 ( 0.000 ) | 2.611
Leisure | 2.013 | 1.887 | 1.586 ( 0.113 ) | 2.208 | 4.141 ( 0.000 ) | 2.165 | 3.645 ( 0.000 ) | 1.595
Home | 0.397 | 0.407 | -0.862 ( 0.389 ) | 0.467 | 3.754 ( 0.000 ) | 0.460 | 3.086 ( 0.002 ) | 0.349
Money | 0.977 | 1.046 | -2.320 ( 0.020 ) | 0.748 | -9.459 ( 0.000 ) | 0.917 | -3.701 ( 0.000 ) | 0.920
Religion | 0.528 | 0.468 | 2.319 ( 0.021 ) | 0.446 | -0.865 ( 0.387 ) | 0.431 | -1.438 ( 0.150 ) | 0.414
Death | 0.341 | 0.373 | -2.461 ( 0.014 ) | 0.181 | -16.186 ( 0.000 ) | 0.179 | -16.308 ( 0.000 ) | 0.279
Informal | 1.895 | 1.839 | 0.714 ( 0.475 ) | 3.262 | 15.550 ( 0.000 ) | 2.636 | 9.182 ( 0.000 ) | 1.865
Swear | 0.392 | 0.342 | 2.524 ( 0.012 ) | 0.683 | 12.773 ( 0.000 ) | 0.509 | 6.704 ( 0.000 ) | 0.403
Netspeak | 0.949 | 1.086 | -2.368 ( 0.018 ) | 1.865 | 11.528 ( 0.000 ) | 1.453 | 5.761 ( 0.000 ) | 0.853
Assent | 0.382 | 0.322 | 3.317 ( 0.001 ) | 0.571 | 13.070 ( 0.000 ) | 0.540 | 11.287 ( 0.000 ) | 0.400
Nonfluencies | 0.216 | 0.191 | 1.621 ( 0.105 ) | 0.281 | 5.672 ( 0.000 ) | 0.262 | 4.428 ( 0.000 ) | 0.254
Filler | 0.020 | 0.018 | 1.731 ( 0.084 ) | 0.039 | 13.661 ( 0.000 ) | 0.031 | 8.837 ( 0.000 ) | 0.023
Openness | 0.620 | 0.616 | 1.325 ( 0.185 ) | 0.554 | -17.212 ( 0.000 ) | 0.570 | -12.614 ( 0.000 ) | 0.623
Conscientuousness | 0.520 | 0.523 | -0.972 ( 0.331 ) | 0.539 | 4.753 ( 0.000 ) | 0.558 | 10.127 ( 0.000 ) | 0.512
Extraversion | 0.414 | 0.402 | 3.582 ( 0.000 ) | 0.498 | 24.077 ( 0.000 ) | 0.475 | 18.784 ( 0.000 ) | 0.396
Agreeableness | 0.443 | 0.422 | 5.884 ( 0.000 ) | 0.501 | 21.210 ( 0.000 ) | 0.502 | 21.826 ( 0.000 ) | 0.426
Neuroticism | 0.421 | 0.425 | -1.314 ( 0.189 ) | 0.410 | -4.379 ( 0.000 ) | 0.392 | -9.564 ( 0.000 ) | 0.439
Negative Low Arousal | 0.379 | 0.367 | 1.690 ( 0.091 ) | 0.430 | 8.057 ( 0.000 ) | 0.382 | 1.989 ( 0.047 ) | 0.394
Negative High Arousal | 0.873 | 0.735 | 7.628 ( 0.000 ) | 0.859 | 5.963 ( 0.000 ) | 0.735 | -0.042 ( 0.967 ) | 0.899
Positive Low Arousal | 1.467 | 1.322 | 4.005 ( 0.000 ) | 2.055 | 19.667 ( 0.000 ) | 1.861 | 14.330 ( 0.000 ) | 1.422
Positive High Arousal | 0.823 | 0.699 | 5.275 ( 0.000 ) | 1.297 | 23.536 ( 0.000 ) | 1.164 | 18.843 ( 0.000 ) | 0.711

_Robustness Sharers that Shared Both Fake-News and Fact-Checks_

We excluded Twitter users that shared both a fake-news article and a fact-
check article in our sample as these users could not be clearly assigned to
one group. In Table B2 below we compare the Twitter users that were excluded
based on this criterion to fake-news sharers and fact-check sharers. To do so,
we collected the information of the users that shared both fake-news and fact-
check articles(s). From the 253 excluded users that shared both, we could
access 150 users in July 2023 who still had an open and active Twitter
profile. We compare the group that shared both fake-news and fact-check
articles to the fake-news sharer group (FN) and fact-check sharer group (FC)
of our Snopes sample. Overall, we find no systematic pattern of differences of
the users that share both fake-news sharers and fact-check articles to the
other groups. Focusing only on the key descriptive findings related to textual
cues (power, anger, religion) we find again no clear pattern:

  1. 1.

Power-related words: FN $<$ FNBoth $>$ FC (more power-related words when
focusing on fake-news sharers that also share fact-checks)

  2. 2.

Religion-related words: FN $=$ FNBoth $=$ FC (no difference when focusing on
fake-news sharers that also share fact-checks)

  3. 3.

Anger-related words: FN $>$ FNBoth $<$ FC (less anger-related words to fake-
news sharers and fact-check sharers)

Table WD2: Snopes Users Sharing Fake-News and Fact Check | Fake | Fake and | t-value | Fact | t-value | Random | t-value | Matched
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| News | Fact | (p-value) | Checkers | (p-value) | Group | (p-value) | Group
| Snopes (1) | Both (2) | 1 vs. 2 | (3) | 3 vs. 2 | (4) | 4 vs. 2 |
Word Count | 21280.361 | 53481.095 | -16.114 ( 0.000 ) | 23477.387 | -14.770 ( 0.000 ) | 18401.074 | -17.584 ( 0.000 ) | 22328.980
Analytic | 80.682 | 84.969 | -5.383 ( 0.000 ) | 76.995 | -9.057 ( 0.000 ) | 69.411 | -18.392 ( 0.000 ) | 75.493
Clout | 70.011 | 72.731 | -4.316 ( 0.000 ) | 69.547 | -4.611 ( 0.000 ) | 63.849 | -13.133 ( 0.000 ) | 66.450
Authentic | 25.840 | 23.452 | 2.098 ( 0.037 ) | 22.447 | -0.825 ( 0.410 ) | 42.021 | 16.020 ( 0.000 ) | 37.226
Emotional Tone | 51.260 | 44.530 | 3.452 ( 0.001 ) | 47.859 | 1.617 ( 0.107 ) | 71.868 | 14.256 ( 0.000 ) | 71.198
Words $>$ 6 letters | 24.198 | 24.540 | -0.973 ( 0.332 ) | 24.552 | 0.031 ( 0.975 ) | 20.866 | -10.422 ( 0.000 ) | 22.279
Dictionary | 71.690 | 73.365 | -3.320 ( 0.001 ) | 71.562 | -3.426 ( 0.001 ) | 75.331 | 3.893 ( 0.000 ) | 73.861
Function Words | 39.017 | 40.774 | -3.774 ( 0.000 ) | 40.416 | -0.736 ( 0.463 ) | 41.335 | 1.206 ( 0.229 ) | 40.323
Pronoun | 10.094 | 9.582 | 2.343 ( 0.020 ) | 10.825 | 5.305 ( 0.000 ) | 12.597 | 13.607 ( 0.000 ) | 11.381
Personal Pronouns | 6.512 | 5.842 | 4.258 ( 0.000 ) | 6.908 | 6.326 ( 0.000 ) | 8.893 | 18.656 ( 0.000 ) | 7.773
1st Person Singluar | 2.600 | 1.783 | 7.966 ( 0.000 ) | 2.709 | 8.195 ( 0.000 ) | 4.752 | 26.611 ( 0.000 ) | 3.814
1st Person Plural | 0.660 | 0.909 | -6.020 ( 0.000 ) | 0.678 | -5.446 ( 0.000 ) | 0.670 | -5.643 ( 0.000 ) | 0.702
2nd Person | 1.743 | 1.332 | 7.385 ( 0.000 ) | 1.840 | 8.449 ( 0.000 ) | 2.440 | 18.951 ( 0.000 ) | 2.194
3rd Personl Singular | 0.924 | 1.019 | -2.059 ( 0.041 ) | 1.037 | 0.360 ( 0.719 ) | 0.609 | -9.071 ( 0.000 ) | 0.612
3rd Person Plural | 0.584 | 0.798 | -7.716 ( 0.000 ) | 0.644 | -5.323 ( 0.000 ) | 0.428 | -13.654 ( 0.000 ) | 0.457
Impersonal Pronouns | 3.576 | 3.737 | -1.964 ( 0.051 ) | 3.912 | 1.983 ( 0.048 ) | 3.698 | -0.480 ( 0.632 ) | 3.603
Articles | 5.175 | 5.957 | -7.960 ( 0.000 ) | 5.295 | -6.512 ( 0.000 ) | 4.750 | -12.261 ( 0.000 ) | 5.059
Prepositions | 11.648 | 12.661 | -6.660 ( 0.000 ) | 11.194 | -9.081 ( 0.000 ) | 10.712 | -12.789 ( 0.000 ) | 11.187
Auxiliary Verbs | 5.703 | 5.856 | -1.435 ( 0.153 ) | 6.122 | 2.345 ( 0.020 ) | 6.125 | 2.540 ( 0.012 ) | 5.872
Adverbs | 3.702 | 3.479 | 2.798 ( 0.006 ) | 3.985 | 6.006 ( 0.000 ) | 4.424 | 11.770 ( 0.000 ) | 4.134
Conjunctions | 3.507 | 4.115 | -7.749 ( 0.000 ) | 3.838 | -3.343 ( 0.001 ) | 3.814 | -3.854 ( 0.000 ) | 3.685
Negate | 0.896 | 0.884 | 0.406 ( 0.685 ) | 1.007 | 3.991 ( 0.000 ) | 0.940 | 1.919 ( 0.057 ) | 0.852
Verbs | 12.215 | 12.003 | 1.299 ( 0.196 ) | 12.620 | 3.577 ( 0.000 ) | 13.520 | 9.217 ( 0.000 ) | 12.860
Adjectives | 4.390 | 4.370 | 0.323 ( 0.747 ) | 4.155 | -3.465 ( 0.001 ) | 4.517 | 2.416 ( 0.017 ) | 4.556
Compare | 1.719 | 1.998 | -8.116 ( 0.000 ) | 1.745 | -7.132 ( 0.000 ) | 1.702 | -8.335 ( 0.000 ) | 1.734
Interrogatives | 1.273 | 1.244 | 1.139 ( 0.256 ) | 1.356 | 4.141 ( 0.000 ) | 1.288 | 1.704 ( 0.090 ) | 1.224
Number | 0.682 | 0.800 | -6.727 ( 0.000 ) | 0.677 | -6.486 ( 0.000 ) | 0.657 | -7.536 ( 0.000 ) | 0.671
Quantifiers | 1.560 | 1.718 | -4.517 ( 0.000 ) | 1.628 | -2.474 ( 0.014 ) | 1.661 | -1.577 ( 0.116 ) | 1.692
Affect | 6.452 | 5.749 | 6.652 ( 0.000 ) | 6.263 | 4.640 ( 0.000 ) | 7.275 | 14.089 ( 0.000 ) | 6.829
Positive Emotions | 3.941 | 3.384 | 5.395 ( 0.000 ) | 3.729 | 3.187 ( 0.002 ) | 5.096 | 16.438 ( 0.000 ) | 4.860
Negative Emotions | 2.464 | 2.316 | 2.585 ( 0.010 ) | 2.483 | 2.733 ( 0.007 ) | 2.128 | -3.189 ( 0.002 ) | 1.917
Anxiety | 0.286 | 0.301 | -1.749 ( 0.082 ) | 0.283 | -1.994 ( 0.047 ) | 0.217 | -9.850 ( 0.000 ) | 0.209
Anger | 1.021 | 0.943 | 2.001 ( 0.047 ) | 1.033 | 2.172 ( 0.031 ) | 0.852 | -2.258 ( 0.025 ) | 0.736
Sadness | 0.421 | 0.410 | 1.009 ( 0.314 ) | 0.424 | 1.158 ( 0.248 ) | 0.435 | 2.274 ( 0.024 ) | 0.385
Social | 8.775 | 8.854 | -0.517 ( 0.606 ) | 8.978 | 0.786 ( 0.433 ) | 9.088 | 1.522 ( 0.130 ) | 8.765
Family | 0.402 | 0.370 | 1.734 ( 0.084 ) | 0.360 | -0.530 ( 0.597 ) | 0.479 | 5.511 ( 0.000 ) | 0.423
Friend | 0.325 | 0.251 | 5.942 ( 0.000 ) | 0.304 | 3.938 ( 0.000 ) | 0.454 | 14.504 ( 0.000 ) | 0.403
Female Words | 0.615 | 0.527 | 3.317 ( 0.001 ) | 0.603 | 2.612 ( 0.010 ) | 0.580 | 2.004 ( 0.046 ) | 0.512
Male Words | 1.094 | 1.101 | -0.138 ( 0.890 ) | 1.182 | 1.689 ( 0.093 ) | 0.893 | -4.614 ( 0.000 ) | 0.867
Cognitive Processes | 8.096 | 8.498 | -2.247 ( 0.026 ) | 8.753 | 1.369 ( 0.172 ) | 8.342 | -0.867 ( 0.387 ) | 8.146
Insight | 1.688 | 1.764 | -0.772 ( 0.441 ) | 1.798 | 0.341 ( 0.734 ) | 1.619 | -1.477 ( 0.142 ) | 1.636
Cause | 1.340 | 1.459 | -4.453 ( 0.000 ) | 1.395 | -2.284 ( 0.023 ) | 1.281 | -6.443 ( 0.000 ) | 1.308
Discrepancies | 1.251 | 1.233 | 0.617 ( 0.538 ) | 1.345 | 3.506 ( 0.001 ) | 1.382 | 4.998 ( 0.000 ) | 1.279
Tentative | 1.761 | 1.801 | -0.760 ( 0.448 ) | 1.975 | 3.162 ( 0.002 ) | 1.886 | 1.644 ( 0.102 ) | 1.865
Certain | 1.316 | 1.348 | -0.766 ( 0.445 ) | 1.367 | 0.450 ( 0.653 ) | 1.355 | 0.180 ( 0.857 ) | 1.292
Differentiation | 1.811 | 2.009 | -3.896 ( 0.000 ) | 2.065 | 1.041 ( 0.299 ) | 1.873 | -2.672 ( 0.008 ) | 1.817
Perceptional Processes | 2.737 | 2.256 | 7.838 ( 0.000 ) | 2.482 | 3.632 ( 0.000 ) | 2.838 | 9.447 ( 0.000 ) | 2.725
See | 1.402 | 1.089 | 7.335 ( 0.000 ) | 1.191 | 2.388 ( 0.018 ) | 1.393 | 7.003 ( 0.000 ) | 1.360
Hear | 0.802 | 0.697 | 5.251 ( 0.000 ) | 0.786 | 4.399 ( 0.000 ) | 0.746 | 2.450 ( 0.015 ) | 0.722
Feel | 0.401 | 0.366 | 2.211 ( 0.028 ) | 0.380 | 0.877 ( 0.382 ) | 0.530 | 10.503 ( 0.000 ) | 0.476
Bio | 2.010 | 1.668 | 6.009 ( 0.000 ) | 1.799 | 2.175 ( 0.031 ) | 2.616 | 15.513 ( 0.000 ) | 2.356
Body | 0.559 | 0.426 | 7.672 ( 0.000 ) | 0.517 | 4.932 ( 0.000 ) | 0.764 | 16.916 ( 0.000 ) | 0.636
Health | 0.593 | 0.645 | -2.316 ( 0.021 ) | 0.530 | -4.512 ( 0.000 ) | 0.592 | -2.237 ( 0.026 ) | 0.573
Sexual | 0.226 | 0.187 | 2.814 ( 0.005 ) | 0.229 | 2.807 ( 0.005 ) | 0.232 | 3.085 ( 0.002 ) | 0.194
Ingestion | 0.554 | 0.385 | 5.854 ( 0.000 ) | 0.452 | 2.328 ( 0.021 ) | 0.763 | 11.890 ( 0.000 ) | 0.762
Drives | 7.907 | 8.747 | -6.101 ( 0.000 ) | 7.575 | -8.192 ( 0.000 ) | 7.616 | -8.135 ( 0.000 ) | 7.676
Affiliation | 2.143 | 2.320 | -2.860 ( 0.005 ) | 2.026 | -4.566 ( 0.000 ) | 2.553 | 3.591 ( 0.000 ) | 2.490
Achieve | 1.358 | 1.545 | -5.188 ( 0.000 ) | 1.283 | -7.014 ( 0.000 ) | 1.510 | -0.921 ( 0.358 ) | 1.574
Power | 3.345 | 3.903 | -5.143 ( 0.000 ) | 3.180 | -6.394 ( 0.000 ) | 2.311 | -14.965 ( 0.000 ) | 2.468
Reward | 1.430 | 1.274 | 4.983 ( 0.000 ) | 1.353 | 2.395 ( 0.017 ) | 1.905 | 20.065 ( 0.000 ) | 1.828
Risk | 0.616 | 0.764 | -5.507 ( 0.000 ) | 0.619 | -5.281 ( 0.000 ) | 0.438 | -12.330 ( 0.000 ) | 0.452
Past Focus | 2.465 | 2.733 | -4.208 ( 0.000 ) | 2.579 | -2.320 ( 0.021 ) | 2.463 | -4.219 ( 0.000 ) | 2.380
Present Focus | 8.376 | 7.939 | 3.714 ( 0.000 ) | 8.574 | 5.150 ( 0.000 ) | 9.756 | 15.320 ( 0.000 ) | 9.233
Future Focus | 1.015 | 1.026 | -0.514 ( 0.608 ) | 0.980 | -2.096 ( 0.037 ) | 1.312 | 12.750 ( 0.000 ) | 1.199
Relativity | 12.637 | 12.993 | -1.967 ( 0.051 ) | 11.645 | -6.889 ( 0.000 ) | 13.325 | 1.842 ( 0.067 ) | 13.381
Motion | 1.695 | 1.722 | -0.622 ( 0.534 ) | 1.552 | -3.868 ( 0.000 ) | 1.963 | 5.636 ( 0.000 ) | 1.899
Space | 6.507 | 6.668 | -1.380 ( 0.169 ) | 6.005 | -5.231 ( 0.000 ) | 6.002 | -5.801 ( 0.000 ) | 6.312
Time | 4.562 | 4.738 | -2.277 ( 0.024 ) | 4.200 | -6.590 ( 0.000 ) | 5.566 | 10.670 ( 0.000 ) | 5.355
Work | 2.702 | 3.500 | -6.239 ( 0.000 ) | 2.611 | -6.802 ( 0.000 ) | 2.082 | -10.973 ( 0.000 ) | 2.430
Leisure | 2.013 | 1.327 | 8.879 ( 0.000 ) | 1.595 | 3.377 ( 0.001 ) | 2.208 | 11.694 ( 0.000 ) | 2.165
Home | 0.397 | 0.451 | -2.499 ( 0.013 ) | 0.349 | -4.620 ( 0.000 ) | 0.467 | 0.649 ( 0.517 ) | 0.460
Money | 0.977 | 1.307 | -4.519 ( 0.000 ) | 0.920 | -5.218 ( 0.000 ) | 0.748 | -7.577 ( 0.000 ) | 0.917
Religion | 0.528 | 0.415 | 1.649 ( 0.101 ) | 0.414 | -0.024 ( 0.981 ) | 0.446 | 0.456 ( 0.649 ) | 0.431
Death | 0.341 | 0.345 | -0.212 ( 0.833 ) | 0.279 | -3.408 ( 0.001 ) | 0.181 | -9.039 ( 0.000 ) | 0.179
Informal | 1.895 | 1.130 | 13.197 ( 0.000 ) | 1.865 | 11.793 ( 0.000 ) | 3.262 | 28.741 ( 0.000 ) | 2.636
Swear | 0.392 | 0.238 | 5.780 ( 0.000 ) | 0.403 | 5.652 ( 0.000 ) | 0.683 | 13.871 ( 0.000 ) | 0.509
Netspeak | 0.949 | 0.553 | 13.420 ( 0.000 ) | 0.853 | 9.260 ( 0.000 ) | 1.865 | 28.967 ( 0.000 ) | 1.453
Assent | 0.382 | 0.244 | 9.475 ( 0.000 ) | 0.400 | 10.462 ( 0.000 ) | 0.571 | 20.807 ( 0.000 ) | 0.540
Nonfluencies | 0.216 | 0.128 | 10.717 ( 0.000 ) | 0.254 | 9.228 ( 0.000 ) | 0.281 | 18.019 ( 0.000 ) | 0.262
Filler | 0.020 | 0.017 | 2.195 ( 0.029 ) | 0.023 | 3.168 ( 0.002 ) | 0.039 | 11.425 ( 0.000 ) | 0.031
Openness | 0.620 | 0.635 | -3.453 ( 0.001 ) | 0.623 | -2.782 ( 0.006 ) | 0.554 | -17.683 ( 0.000 ) | 0.570
Conscientuousness | 0.520 | 0.557 | -8.255 ( 0.000 ) | 0.512 | -9.332 ( 0.000 ) | 0.539 | -3.677 ( 0.000 ) | 0.558
Extraversion | 0.414 | 0.387 | 4.950 ( 0.000 ) | 0.396 | 1.557 ( 0.121 ) | 0.498 | 19.280 ( 0.000 ) | 0.475
Agreeableness | 0.443 | 0.420 | 3.733 ( 0.000 ) | 0.426 | 0.973 ( 0.331 ) | 0.501 | 12.887 ( 0.000 ) | 0.502
Neuroticism | 0.421 | 0.418 | 0.686 ( 0.494 ) | 0.439 | 3.785 ( 0.000 ) | 0.410 | -1.436 ( 0.152 ) | 0.392
Negative Low Arousal | 0.379 | 0.378 | 0.074 ( 0.941 ) | 0.394 | 1.332 ( 0.184 ) | 0.430 | 4.686 ( 0.000 ) | 0.382
Negative High Arousal | 0.873 | 0.712 | 6.161 ( 0.000 ) | 0.899 | 6.583 ( 0.000 ) | 0.859 | 5.247 ( 0.000 ) | 0.735
Positive Low Arousal | 1.467 | 1.224 | 5.888 ( 0.000 ) | 1.422 | 4.566 ( 0.000 ) | 2.055 | 19.738 ( 0.000 ) | 1.861
Positive High Arousal | 0.823 | 0.586 | 8.048 ( 0.000 ) | 0.711 | 4.067 ( 0.000 ) | 1.297 | 22.882 ( 0.000 ) | 1.164

_Robustness Number of Fake-News Shared_

In our original data, the majority of users labeled as fake-news sharers had
shared only 1 fake-news article of our sample of fake-news articles. Very few
(92 users, 5%) shared more than 1. To investigate whether there are systematic
differences between fake-news sharers that shared only one vs. more than one
article from our Snopes sample of articles, we compare those labeled as fake-
news sharers after sharing exactly 1 fake-news to those labeled fake-news
sharers after sharing 2+ fake-news. Table B3 shows the differences of all
variables included in our analysis. Our results demonstrate that focusing on
those who shared more fake-news, our descriptive findings about differences in
textual cues may have been amplified, if anything. Focusing on the key textual
cues (power, anger, religion) and comparing the groups that shared only one
fake-news article (1 FN) vs. those that shared more than one fake-news article
(2+ FN) we again find that if anything further distinguishing the group of
fake-news sharers amplifies the differences to the random group.

  1. 1.

Power-related words: 2+ FN $>$ 1 FN $>$ Random users (finding amplified when
focusing on those with 2+ vs 1)

  2. 2.

Religion-related words: 2+ FN $=$ 1 FN $>$ Random users (similar finding when
focusing on those with 2+ vs 1)

  3. 3.

Anger-related words: 2+ FN $>$ 1 FN $>$ Random users (finding amplified when
focusing on those with 2+ vs 1)

Table WD3: One Time vs. Multiple Time Fake-News Sharers | One Time | Multiple Times | t-value | Random | t-value | Matched | Fact
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| Fake-News | Fake-News | (p-value) | Group | (p-value) | Group | Checkers
| Sharers (1) | Sharers (2) | 1 vs. 2 | (3) | 3 vs. 2 |  |
Word Count | 21476.481 | 17794.957 | 3.315 ( 0.001 ) | 18401.074 | -0.550 ( 0.584 ) | 22328.980 | 23477.387
Analytic | 80.501 | 83.900 | -2.862 ( 0.005 ) | 69.411 | 11.891 ( 0.000 ) | 75.493 | 76.995
Clout | 69.864 | 72.623 | -3.045 ( 0.003 ) | 63.849 | 9.368 ( 0.000 ) | 66.450 | 69.547
Authentic | 26.193 | 19.559 | 4.953 ( 0.000 ) | 42.021 | -16.601 ( 0.000 ) | 37.226 | 22.447
Emotional Tone | 52.089 | 36.542 | 6.038 ( 0.000 ) | 71.868 | -13.872 ( 0.000 ) | 71.198 | 47.859
Words $>$ 6 letters | 24.126 | 25.478 | -2.738 ( 0.007 ) | 20.866 | 9.353 ( 0.000 ) | 22.279 | 24.552
Dictionary | 71.788 | 69.944 | 2.544 ( 0.012 ) | 75.331 | -7.434 ( 0.000 ) | 73.861 | 71.562
Function Words | 39.104 | 37.479 | 2.530 ( 0.013 ) | 41.335 | -6.015 ( 0.000 ) | 40.323 | 40.416
Pronoun | 10.148 | 9.133 | 3.049 ( 0.003 ) | 12.597 | -10.362 ( 0.000 ) | 11.381 | 10.825
Personal Pronouns | 6.554 | 5.773 | 3.433 ( 0.001 ) | 8.893 | -13.491 ( 0.000 ) | 7.773 | 6.908
1st Person Singluar | 2.642 | 1.866 | 4.758 ( 0.000 ) | 4.752 | -17.139 ( 0.000 ) | 3.814 | 2.709
1st Person Plural | 0.657 | 0.719 | -1.559 ( 0.122 ) | 0.670 | 1.198 ( 0.233 ) | 0.702 | 0.678
2nd Person | 1.756 | 1.520 | 2.541 ( 0.013 ) | 2.440 | -9.749 ( 0.000 ) | 2.194 | 1.840
3rd Personl Singular | 0.918 | 1.043 | -2.381 ( 0.019 ) | 0.609 | 8.406 ( 0.000 ) | 0.612 | 1.037
3rd Person Plural | 0.582 | 0.625 | -1.373 ( 0.173 ) | 0.428 | 6.462 ( 0.000 ) | 0.457 | 0.644
Impersonal Pronouns | 3.589 | 3.357 | 1.788 ( 0.077 ) | 3.698 | -2.648 ( 0.009 ) | 3.603 | 3.912
Articles | 5.197 | 4.783 | 3.252 ( 0.002 ) | 4.750 | 0.255 ( 0.800 ) | 5.059 | 5.295
Prepositions | 11.625 | 12.043 | -2.105 ( 0.038 ) | 10.712 | 6.719 ( 0.000 ) | 11.187 | 11.194
Auxiliary Verbs | 5.715 | 5.499 | 1.341 ( 0.183 ) | 6.125 | -3.908 ( 0.000 ) | 5.872 | 6.122
Adverbs | 3.720 | 3.377 | 3.027 ( 0.003 ) | 4.424 | -9.225 ( 0.000 ) | 4.134 | 3.985
Conjunctions | 3.516 | 3.349 | 1.653 ( 0.101 ) | 3.814 | -4.597 ( 0.000 ) | 3.685 | 3.838
Negate | 0.895 | 0.907 | -0.307 ( 0.759 ) | 0.940 | -0.866 ( 0.388 ) | 0.852 | 1.007
Verbs | 12.239 | 11.780 | 1.895 ( 0.061 ) | 13.520 | -7.172 ( 0.000 ) | 12.860 | 12.620
Adjectives | 4.395 | 4.309 | 1.181 ( 0.240 ) | 4.517 | -2.873 ( 0.005 ) | 4.556 | 4.155
Compare | 1.715 | 1.776 | -1.689 ( 0.094 ) | 1.702 | 2.024 ( 0.045 ) | 1.734 | 1.745
Interrogatives | 1.274 | 1.247 | 0.719 ( 0.474 ) | 1.288 | -1.073 ( 0.286 ) | 1.224 | 1.356
Number | 0.680 | 0.708 | -1.110 ( 0.269 ) | 0.657 | 1.971 ( 0.051 ) | 0.671 | 0.677
Quantifiers | 1.565 | 1.474 | 2.104 ( 0.038 ) | 1.661 | -4.264 ( 0.000 ) | 1.692 | 1.628
Affect | 6.453 | 6.439 | 0.086 ( 0.931 ) | 7.275 | -5.161 ( 0.000 ) | 6.829 | 6.263
Positive Emotions | 3.968 | 3.463 | 3.098 ( 0.003 ) | 5.096 | -10.001 ( 0.000 ) | 4.860 | 3.729
Negative Emotions | 2.438 | 2.930 | -5.624 ( 0.000 ) | 2.128 | 9.083 ( 0.000 ) | 1.917 | 2.483
Anxiety | 0.282 | 0.359 | -4.016 ( 0.000 ) | 0.217 | 7.446 ( 0.000 ) | 0.209 | 0.283
Anger | 1.006 | 1.294 | -5.247 ( 0.000 ) | 0.852 | 7.942 ( 0.000 ) | 0.736 | 1.033
Sadness | 0.417 | 0.489 | -2.260 ( 0.026 ) | 0.435 | 1.684 ( 0.095 ) | 0.385 | 0.424
Social | 8.765 | 8.958 | -1.030 ( 0.306 ) | 9.088 | -0.691 ( 0.491 ) | 8.765 | 8.978
Family | 0.404 | 0.369 | 1.488 ( 0.140 ) | 0.479 | -4.456 ( 0.000 ) | 0.423 | 0.360
Friend | 0.326 | 0.323 | 0.098 ( 0.922 ) | 0.454 | -5.772 ( 0.000 ) | 0.403 | 0.304
Female Words | 0.612 | 0.672 | -1.797 ( 0.075 ) | 0.580 | 2.707 ( 0.008 ) | 0.512 | 0.603
Male Words | 1.091 | 1.155 | -1.333 ( 0.185 ) | 0.893 | 5.484 ( 0.000 ) | 0.867 | 1.182
Cognitive Processes | 8.108 | 7.899 | 1.087 ( 0.280 ) | 8.342 | -2.304 ( 0.023 ) | 8.146 | 8.753
Insight | 1.689 | 1.681 | 0.175 ( 0.861 ) | 1.619 | 1.448 ( 0.150 ) | 1.636 | 1.798
Cause | 1.341 | 1.307 | 0.999 ( 0.320 ) | 1.281 | 0.759 ( 0.450 ) | 1.308 | 1.395
Discrepancies | 1.254 | 1.198 | 1.452 ( 0.149 ) | 1.382 | -4.749 ( 0.000 ) | 1.279 | 1.345
Tentative | 1.766 | 1.678 | 1.380 ( 0.170 ) | 1.886 | -3.263 ( 0.002 ) | 1.865 | 1.975
Certain | 1.316 | 1.319 | -0.076 ( 0.940 ) | 1.355 | -0.738 ( 0.462 ) | 1.292 | 1.367
Differentiation | 1.815 | 1.750 | 1.041 ( 0.300 ) | 1.873 | -1.999 ( 0.048 ) | 1.817 | 2.065
Perceptional Processes | 2.750 | 2.506 | 3.135 ( 0.002 ) | 2.838 | -4.273 ( 0.000 ) | 2.725 | 2.482
See | 1.409 | 1.275 | 2.515 ( 0.013 ) | 1.393 | -2.204 ( 0.029 ) | 1.360 | 1.191
Hear | 0.803 | 0.782 | 0.738 ( 0.462 ) | 0.746 | 1.231 ( 0.221 ) | 0.722 | 0.786
Feel | 0.404 | 0.342 | 3.286 ( 0.001 ) | 0.530 | -10.116 ( 0.000 ) | 0.476 | 0.380
Bio | 2.014 | 1.939 | 0.880 ( 0.381 ) | 2.616 | -7.644 ( 0.000 ) | 2.356 | 1.799
Body | 0.561 | 0.525 | 1.355 ( 0.178 ) | 0.764 | -8.522 ( 0.000 ) | 0.636 | 0.517
Health | 0.591 | 0.624 | -0.773 ( 0.441 ) | 0.592 | 0.740 ( 0.461 ) | 0.573 | 0.530
Sexual | 0.221 | 0.312 | -3.942 ( 0.000 ) | 0.232 | 3.398 ( 0.001 ) | 0.194 | 0.229
Ingestion | 0.559 | 0.457 | 2.691 ( 0.008 ) | 0.763 | -7.648 ( 0.000 ) | 0.762 | 0.452
Drives | 7.873 | 8.523 | -3.886 ( 0.000 ) | 7.616 | 5.386 ( 0.000 ) | 7.676 | 7.575
Affiliation | 2.142 | 2.165 | -0.260 ( 0.795 ) | 2.553 | -4.309 ( 0.000 ) | 2.490 | 2.026
Achieve | 1.363 | 1.267 | 3.379 ( 0.001 ) | 1.510 | -7.927 ( 0.000 ) | 1.574 | 1.283
Power | 3.305 | 4.053 | -5.395 ( 0.000 ) | 2.311 | 12.731 ( 0.000 ) | 2.468 | 3.180
Reward | 1.440 | 1.260 | 3.501 ( 0.001 ) | 1.905 | -12.620 ( 0.000 ) | 1.828 | 1.353
Risk | 0.610 | 0.723 | -3.325 ( 0.001 ) | 0.438 | 8.494 ( 0.000 ) | 0.452 | 0.619
Past Focus | 2.466 | 2.449 | 0.245 ( 0.807 ) | 2.463 | -0.196 ( 0.845 ) | 2.380 | 2.579
Present Focus | 8.397 | 8.000 | 2.026 ( 0.045 ) | 9.756 | -8.949 ( 0.000 ) | 9.233 | 8.574
Future Focus | 1.020 | 0.928 | 3.601 ( 0.000 ) | 1.312 | -14.412 ( 0.000 ) | 1.199 | 0.980
Relativity | 12.653 | 12.351 | 1.318 ( 0.190 ) | 13.325 | -4.279 ( 0.000 ) | 13.381 | 11.645
Motion | 1.697 | 1.671 | 0.498 ( 0.619 ) | 1.963 | -5.520 ( 0.000 ) | 1.899 | 1.552
Space | 6.497 | 6.683 | -1.015 ( 0.313 ) | 6.002 | 3.757 ( 0.000 ) | 6.312 | 6.005
Time | 4.585 | 4.142 | 4.351 ( 0.000 ) | 5.566 | -14.028 ( 0.000 ) | 5.355 | 4.200
Work | 2.681 | 3.084 | -3.457 ( 0.001 ) | 2.082 | 8.505 ( 0.000 ) | 2.430 | 2.611
Leisure | 2.034 | 1.651 | 3.451 ( 0.001 ) | 2.208 | -5.109 ( 0.000 ) | 2.165 | 1.595
Home | 0.398 | 0.379 | 0.956 ( 0.341 ) | 0.467 | -3.827 ( 0.000 ) | 0.460 | 0.349
Money | 0.974 | 1.020 | -1.022 ( 0.309 ) | 0.748 | 6.009 ( 0.000 ) | 0.917 | 0.920
Religion | 0.524 | 0.600 | -0.896 ( 0.373 ) | 0.446 | 1.807 ( 0.074 ) | 0.431 | 0.414
Death | 0.335 | 0.453 | -3.549 ( 0.001 ) | 0.181 | 8.281 ( 0.000 ) | 0.179 | 0.279
Informal | 1.908 | 1.671 | 2.176 ( 0.032 ) | 3.262 | -13.479 ( 0.000 ) | 2.636 | 1.865
Swear | 0.390 | 0.434 | -0.871 ( 0.386 ) | 0.683 | -4.608 ( 0.000 ) | 0.509 | 0.403
Netspeak | 0.955 | 0.836 | 1.682 ( 0.095 ) | 1.865 | -13.123 ( 0.000 ) | 1.453 | 0.853
Assent | 0.388 | 0.286 | 4.737 ( 0.000 ) | 0.571 | -12.890 ( 0.000 ) | 0.540 | 0.400
Nonfluencies | 0.219 | 0.169 | 3.631 ( 0.000 ) | 0.281 | -8.054 ( 0.000 ) | 0.262 | 0.254
Filler | 0.020 | 0.022 | -0.641 ( 0.523 ) | 0.039 | -5.529 ( 0.000 ) | 0.031 | 0.023
Openness | 0.619 | 0.641 | -3.544 ( 0.001 ) | 0.554 | 13.831 ( 0.000 ) | 0.570 | 0.623
Conscientuousness | 0.520 | 0.516 | 0.560 ( 0.577 ) | 0.539 | -3.233 ( 0.002 ) | 0.558 | 0.512
Extraversion | 0.415 | 0.398 | 2.407 ( 0.018 ) | 0.498 | -13.558 ( 0.000 ) | 0.475 | 0.396
Agreeableness | 0.445 | 0.399 | 6.043 ( 0.000 ) | 0.501 | -13.144 ( 0.000 ) | 0.502 | 0.426
Neuroticism | 0.420 | 0.442 | -3.205 ( 0.002 ) | 0.410 | 4.607 ( 0.000 ) | 0.392 | 0.439
Negative Low Arousal | 0.379 | 0.375 | 0.193 ( 0.847 ) | 0.430 | -2.659 ( 0.009 ) | 0.382 | 0.394
Negative High Arousal | 0.865 | 1.012 | -3.209 ( 0.002 ) | 0.859 | 3.249 ( 0.002 ) | 0.735 | 0.899
Positive Low Arousal | 1.480 | 1.239 | 4.551 ( 0.000 ) | 2.055 | -15.265 ( 0.000 ) | 1.861 | 1.422
Positive High Arousal | 0.833 | 0.645 | 3.826 ( 0.000 ) | 1.297 | -13.018 ( 0.000 ) | 1.164 | 0.711

## Web Appendix E - Descriptive Statistics Group Comparisons

The tables on the following pages show the comparison of Fake-Sharers, the
Random and Matched Sample as well as the Fact-Check Sharers. For factor
variables the mean column indicates the proportion, the column of the t-value
indicates the z-value and the columns of Cohen’s D indicates Cohen’s H.

Table WE1: Snopes Positive Effect Sizes |  | Fake-news
---
Sharers
Random Sample | Matched Sample | Fact-Check Sharers
Predictor | Mean | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p
Power | 3.345 | 2.311 | 0.940 | 27.767 | 0.000 | 2.468 | 0.771 | 22.658 | 0.000 | 3.180 | 0.134 | 3.087 | 0.002
Number Fake Outlets Followed | 2.010 | 0.238 | 0.802 | 23.324 | 0.000 | 0.506 | 0.641 | 18.835 | 0.000 | 1.148 | 0.309 | 8.335 | 0.000
Death | 0.341 | 0.181 | 0.762 | 22.384 | 0.000 | 0.179 | 0.762 | 22.402 | 0.000 | 0.279 | 0.254 | 6.110 | 0.000
Tweets Per Day | 10.547 | 2.452 | 0.735 | 21.385 | 0.000 | 5.176 | 0.447 | 13.141 | 0.000 | 11.678 | 0.073 | -1.566 | 0.118
Analytic | 80.682 | 69.411 | 0.722 | 21.670 | 0.000 | 75.493 | 0.364 | 10.694 | 0.000 | 76.995 | 0.290 | 6.418 | 0.000
Openness | 0.620 | 0.554 | 0.721 | 21.606 | 0.000 | 0.570 | 0.548 | 16.106 | 0.000 | 0.623 | 0.029 | -0.685 | 0.494
Status Count | 30071.969 | 7239.498 | 0.717 | 20.875 | 0.000 | 17264.187 | 0.361 | 10.617 | 0.000 | 33551.738 | 0.078 | -1.652 | 0.099
Wikileaks | 0.277 | 0.051 | 0.656 | 335.828 | 0.000 | 0.086 | 0.513 | 210.222 | 0.000 | 0.174 | 0.248 | 26.897 | 0.000
Drudge Report | 0.216 | 0.024 | 0.654 | 312.398 | 0.000 | 0.064 | 0.454 | 163.346 | 0.000 | 0.094 | 0.344 | 47.606 | 0.000
Risk | 0.616 | 0.438 | 0.653 | 19.315 | 0.000 | 0.452 | 0.593 | 17.416 | 0.000 | 0.619 | 0.009 | -0.221 | 0.825
Words $>$ 6 letters | 24.198 | 20.866 | 0.647 | 19.288 | 0.000 | 22.279 | 0.383 | 11.251 | 0.000 | 24.552 | 0.073 | -1.725 | 0.085
3rd Person Singular | 0.924 | 0.609 | 0.629 | 18.605 | 0.000 | 0.612 | 0.607 | 17.823 | 0.000 | 1.037 | 0.199 | -4.310 | 0.000
3rd Person Plural | 0.584 | 0.428 | 0.548 | 16.155 | 0.000 | 0.457 | 0.428 | 12.581 | 0.000 | 0.644 | 0.185 | -4.269 | 0.000
Fox News | 0.276 | 0.083 | 0.522 | 225.767 | 0.000 | 0.142 | 0.334 | 93.115 | 0.000 | 0.158 | 0.289 | 36.068 | 0.000
Anxiety | 0.286 | 0.217 | 0.506 | 15.001 | 0.000 | 0.209 | 0.571 | 16.784 | 0.000 | 0.283 | 0.022 | 0.534 | 0.593
Clout | 70.011 | 63.849 | 0.489 | 14.700 | 0.000 | 66.450 | 0.299 | 8.796 | 0.000 | 69.547 | 0.047 | 1.049 | 0.295
Dailybeast | 0.153 | 0.027 | 0.472 | 172.225 | 0.000 | 0.066 | 0.287 | 67.541 | 0.000 | 0.218 | 0.166 | 13.551 | 0.000
Salon | 0.111 | 0.014 | 0.440 | 142.540 | 0.000 | 0.043 | 0.260 | 54.476 | 0.000 | 0.173 | 0.178 | 15.888 | 0.000
Number Fact Outlets Followed | 0.241 | 0.043 | 0.439 | 12.819 | 0.000 | 0.107 | 0.267 | 7.856 | 0.000 | 0.492 | 0.357 | -6.579 | 0.000
Work | 2.702 | 2.082 | 0.430 | 12.847 | 0.000 | 2.430 | 0.176 | 5.161 | 0.000 | 2.611 | 0.073 | 1.745 | 0.081
Washington Post | 0.259 | 0.098 | 0.429 | 155.917 | 0.000 | 0.169 | 0.219 | 40.607 | 0.000 | 0.365 | 0.230 | 26.081 | 0.000
Prepositions | 11.648 | 10.712 | 0.427 | 12.721 | 0.000 | 11.187 | 0.213 | 6.246 | 0.000 | 11.194 | 0.217 | 4.988 | 0.000
GOP | 0.340 | 0.161 | 0.419 | 151.088 | 0.000 | 0.305 | 0.075 | 4.672 | 0.031 | 0.159 | 0.423 | 75.626 | 0.000
USA Today | 0.170 | 0.048 | 0.406 | 134.744 | 0.000 | 0.089 | 0.244 | 49.563 | 0.000 | 0.182 | 0.032 | 0.418 | 0.518
Age | 32.596 | 30.417 | 0.387 | 11.617 | 0.000 | 32.950 | 0.064 | -1.866 | 0.062 | 32.188 | 0.093 | 2.206 | 0.028
Male Words | 1.094 | 0.893 | 0.384 | 11.430 | 0.000 | 0.867 | 0.429 | 12.596 | 0.000 | 1.182 | 0.167 | -3.559 | 0.000
Wall Street Journal | 0.247 | 0.105 | 0.379 | 122.624 | 0.000 | 0.172 | 0.185 | 28.896 | 0.000 | 0.249 | 0.004 | 0.001 | 0.976
Negative Emotions | 2.464 | 2.128 | 0.357 | 10.689 | 0.000 | 1.917 | 0.599 | 17.586 | 0.000 | 2.483 | 0.023 | -0.536 | 0.592
Friends Count | 2293.471 | 763.677 | 0.355 | 10.404 | 0.000 | 1852.286 | 0.060 | 1.771 | 0.077 | 2391.864 | 0.017 | -0.352 | 0.725
Economist | 0.164 | 0.059 | 0.345 | 99.781 | 0.000 | 0.107 | 0.170 | 24.094 | 0.000 | 0.177 | 0.034 | 0.487 | 0.485
New York Times | 0.316 | 0.169 | 0.345 | 103.105 | 0.000 | 0.274 | 0.091 | 6.907 | 0.009 | 0.419 | 0.215 | 22.338 | 0.000
Articles | 5.175 | 4.750 | 0.341 | 10.157 | 0.000 | 5.059 | 0.092 | 2.716 | 0.007 | 5.295 | 0.104 | -2.476 | 0.013
New Yorker | 0.198 | 0.087 | 0.324 | 89.602 | 0.000 | 0.129 | 0.187 | 29.304 | 0.000 | 0.268 | 0.167 | 13.585 | 0.000
LA Times | 0.111 | 0.031 | 0.322 | 84.429 | 0.000 | 0.062 | 0.175 | 25.197 | 0.000 | 0.151 | 0.119 | 6.835 | 0.009
CNN | 0.261 | 0.140 | 0.305 | 80.672 | 0.000 | 0.215 | 0.108 | 9.846 | 0.002 | 0.326 | 0.143 | 9.892 | 0.002
Money | 0.977 | 0.748 | 0.302 | 9.034 | 0.000 | 0.917 | 0.069 | 2.021 | 0.043 | 0.920 | 0.087 | 2.130 | 0.033
DEM & GOP | 0.144 | 0.059 | 0.287 | 69.829 | 0.000 | 0.106 | 0.114 | 10.775 | 0.001 | 0.198 | 0.145 | 10.379 | 0.001
Aljazeera English | 0.080 | 0.021 | 0.285 | 65.157 | 0.000 | 0.048 | 0.136 | 15.091 | 0.000 | 0.142 | 0.196 | 19.794 | 0.000
Space | 6.507 | 6.002 | 0.284 | 8.428 | 0.000 | 6.312 | 0.107 | 3.133 | 0.002 | 6.005 | 0.275 | 6.243 | 0.000
Anger | 1.021 | 0.852 | 0.281 | 8.416 | 0.000 | 0.736 | 0.502 | 14.733 | 0.000 | 1.033 | 0.023 | -0.529 | 0.597
Word Count | 21280.361 | 18401.074 | 0.257 | 7.630 | 0.000 | 22328.980 | 0.090 | -2.647 | 0.008 | 23477.387 | 0.188 | -4.088 | 0.000
Buzz Feed | 0.131 | 0.064 | 0.230 | 45.064 | 0.000 | 0.104 | 0.084 | 5.859 | 0.015 | 0.152 | 0.061 | 1.656 | 0.198
Drives | 7.907 | 7.616 | 0.179 | 5.338 | 0.000 | 7.676 | 0.140 | 4.121 | 0.000 | 7.575 | 0.227 | 5.174 | 0.000
DEM | 0.169 | 0.113 | 0.163 | 22.964 | 0.000 | 0.199 | 0.077 | 4.896 | 0.027 | 0.329 | 0.375 | 72.873 | 0.000
Gender (Male) | 0.633 | 0.557 | 0.156 | 21.070 | 0.000 | 0.651 | 0.038 | 1.156 | 0.282 | 0.590 | 0.088 | 3.569 | 0.059
Cause | 1.340 | 1.281 | 0.136 | 4.077 | 0.000 | 1.308 | 0.071 | 2.100 | 0.036 | 1.395 | 0.152 | -3.550 | 0.000
Insight | 1.688 | 1.619 | 0.128 | 3.821 | 0.000 | 1.636 | 0.093 | 2.721 | 0.007 | 1.798 | 0.220 | -4.974 | 0.000
Hear | 0.802 | 0.746 | 0.126 | 3.747 | 0.000 | 0.722 | 0.178 | 5.226 | 0.000 | 0.786 | 0.040 | 1.052 | 0.293
Neuroticism | 0.421 | 0.410 | 0.125 | 3.758 | 0.000 | 0.392 | 0.337 | 9.889 | 0.000 | 0.439 | 0.238 | -5.606 | 0.000
Religion | 0.528 | 0.446 | 0.117 | 3.475 | 0.001 | 0.431 | 0.138 | 4.048 | 0.000 | 0.414 | 0.180 | 4.950 | 0.000
Followers Count | 4449.825 | 1708.484 | 0.098 | 2.880 | 0.004 | 3432.604 | 0.037 | 1.092 | 0.275 | 10196.757 | 0.103 | -1.637 | 0.102
Swing_State | 0.283 | 0.241 | 0.094 | 7.640 | 0.006 | 0.283 | 0.002 | 0.000 | 0.983 | 0.238 | 0.101 | 4.549 | 0.033
Female Words | 0.615 | 0.580 | 0.087 | 2.595 | 0.009 | 0.512 | 0.261 | 7.663 | 0.000 | 0.603 | 0.032 | 0.697 | 0.486
Number | 0.682 | 0.657 | 0.076 | 2.280 | 0.023 | 0.671 | 0.036 | 1.058 | 0.290 | 0.677 | 0.021 | 0.452 | 0.651

Table WE2: Snopes Negative Effect Sizes |  | Fake-news
---
Sharers
Random Sample | Matched Sample | Fact-Check Sharers
Predictor | Mean | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p
1st Person Singular | 2.600 | 4.752 | 0.959 | -28.824 | 0.000 | 3.814 | 0.595 | -17.473 | 0.000 | 2.709 | 0.062 | -1.415 | 0.157
Authentic | 25.840 | 42.021 | 0.901 | -26.927 | 0.000 | 37.226 | 0.654 | -19.214 | 0.000 | 22.447 | 0.211 | 4.792 | 0.000
Personal Pronouns | 6.512 | 8.893 | 0.866 | -25.962 | 0.000 | 7.773 | 0.489 | -14.373 | 0.000 | 6.908 | 0.172 | -3.946 | 0.000
Positive Low Arousal | 1.467 | 2.055 | 0.841 | -25.137 | 0.000 | 1.861 | 0.561 | -16.477 | 0.000 | 1.422 | 0.073 | 1.726 | 0.085
Emotional Tone | 51.260 | 71.868 | 0.827 | -24.507 | 0.000 | 71.198 | 0.794 | -23.320 | 0.000 | 47.859 | 0.131 | 3.019 | 0.003
Extraversion | 0.414 | 0.498 | 0.814 | -24.430 | 0.000 | 0.475 | 0.623 | -18.307 | 0.000 | 0.396 | 0.223 | 5.420 | 0.000
Positive High Arousal | 0.823 | 1.297 | 0.777 | -23.271 | 0.000 | 1.164 | 0.597 | -17.536 | 0.000 | 0.711 | 0.226 | 5.555 | 0.000
Positive Emotions | 3.941 | 5.096 | 0.750 | -22.367 | 0.000 | 4.860 | 0.583 | -17.133 | 0.000 | 3.729 | 0.151 | 3.562 | 0.000
Reward | 1.430 | 1.905 | 0.748 | -22.276 | 0.000 | 1.828 | 0.598 | -17.567 | 0.000 | 1.353 | 0.131 | 3.242 | 0.001
Future Focus | 1.015 | 1.312 | 0.740 | -22.238 | 0.000 | 1.199 | 0.453 | -13.301 | 0.000 | 0.980 | 0.115 | 2.773 | 0.006
Pronoun | 10.094 | 12.597 | 0.723 | -21.592 | 0.000 | 11.381 | 0.384 | -11.283 | 0.000 | 10.825 | 0.231 | -5.268 | 0.000
Informal | 1.895 | 3.262 | 0.712 | -21.492 | 0.000 | 2.636 | 0.446 | -13.097 | 0.000 | 1.865 | 0.025 | 0.617 | 0.537
Present Focus | 8.376 | 9.756 | 0.701 | -20.920 | 0.000 | 9.233 | 0.449 | -13.196 | 0.000 | 8.574 | 0.111 | -2.683 | 0.007
Netspeak | 0.949 | 1.865 | 0.691 | -20.919 | 0.000 | 1.453 | 0.458 | -13.461 | 0.000 | 0.853 | 0.128 | 3.161 | 0.002
Time | 4.562 | 5.566 | 0.688 | -20.498 | 0.000 | 5.355 | 0.537 | -15.762 | 0.000 | 4.200 | 0.269 | 6.568 | 0.000
No Party Followed | 0.347 | 0.668 | 0.652 | 362.243 | 0.000 | 0.390 | 0.089 | 6.584 | 0.010 | 0.313 | 0.073 | 2.413 | 0.120
2nd Person | 1.743 | 2.440 | 0.630 | -18.887 | 0.000 | 2.194 | 0.415 | -12.189 | 0.000 | 1.840 | 0.106 | -2.456 | 0.014
Agreeableness | 0.443 | 0.501 | 0.592 | -17.698 | 0.000 | 0.502 | 0.626 | -18.379 | 0.000 | 0.426 | 0.195 | 4.610 | 0.000
Adverbs | 3.702 | 4.424 | 0.579 | -17.282 | 0.000 | 4.134 | 0.352 | -10.341 | 0.000 | 3.985 | 0.246 | -5.769 | 0.000
Feel | 0.401 | 0.530 | 0.551 | -16.383 | 0.000 | 0.476 | 0.330 | -9.703 | 0.000 | 0.380 | 0.094 | 2.480 | 0.013
Dictionary | 71.690 | 75.331 | 0.548 | -16.325 | 0.000 | 73.861 | 0.326 | -9.590 | 0.000 | 71.562 | 0.020 | 0.478 | 0.633
Bio | 2.010 | 2.616 | 0.541 | -16.280 | 0.000 | 2.356 | 0.300 | -8.808 | 0.000 | 1.799 | 0.252 | 5.976 | 0.000
Verbs | 12.215 | 13.520 | 0.524 | -15.638 | 0.000 | 12.860 | 0.261 | -7.663 | 0.000 | 12.620 | 0.177 | -4.127 | 0.000
Affect | 6.452 | 7.275 | 0.503 | -15.050 | 0.000 | 6.829 | 0.233 | -6.847 | 0.000 | 6.263 | 0.136 | 3.187 | 0.001
Body | 0.559 | 0.764 | 0.497 | -14.995 | 0.000 | 0.636 | 0.203 | -5.952 | 0.000 | 0.517 | 0.154 | 3.576 | 0.000
Filler | 0.020 | 0.039 | 0.485 | -14.575 | 0.000 | 0.031 | 0.304 | -8.921 | 0.000 | 0.023 | 0.077 | -1.770 | 0.077
Motion | 1.695 | 1.963 | 0.457 | -13.666 | 0.000 | 1.899 | 0.334 | -9.802 | 0.000 | 1.552 | 0.280 | 6.542 | 0.000
Assent | 0.382 | 0.571 | 0.457 | -13.673 | 0.000 | 0.540 | 0.379 | -11.124 | 0.000 | 0.400 | 0.054 | -1.412 | 0.158
Friend | 0.325 | 0.454 | 0.422 | -12.698 | 0.000 | 0.403 | 0.290 | -8.522 | 0.000 | 0.304 | 0.097 | 2.335 | 0.020
Affiliation | 2.143 | 2.553 | 0.422 | -12.701 | 0.000 | 2.490 | 0.371 | -10.884 | 0.000 | 2.026 | 0.160 | 3.747 | 0.000
Swear | 0.392 | 0.683 | 0.419 | -12.662 | 0.000 | 0.509 | 0.191 | -5.598 | 0.000 | 0.403 | 0.026 | -0.580 | 0.562
Function Words | 39.017 | 41.335 | 0.402 | -11.977 | 0.000 | 40.323 | 0.226 | -6.627 | 0.000 | 40.416 | 0.250 | -5.787 | 0.000
Nonfluencies | 0.216 | 0.281 | 0.342 | -10.224 | 0.000 | 0.262 | 0.230 | -6.747 | 0.000 | 0.254 | 0.173 | -3.042 | 0.002
Ingestion | 0.554 | 0.763 | 0.325 | -9.779 | 0.000 | 0.762 | 0.288 | -8.457 | 0.000 | 0.452 | 0.225 | 5.889 | 0.000
Conjunctions | 3.507 | 3.814 | 0.293 | -8.735 | 0.000 | 3.685 | 0.170 | -4.999 | 0.000 | 3.838 | 0.325 | -7.401 | 0.000
Discrepancies | 1.251 | 1.382 | 0.285 | -8.517 | 0.000 | 1.279 | 0.064 | -1.867 | 0.062 | 1.345 | 0.221 | -4.885 | 0.000
Negative Low Arousal | 0.379 | 0.430 | 0.284 | -8.524 | 0.000 | 0.382 | 0.018 | -0.523 | 0.601 | 0.394 | 0.096 | -2.031 | 0.043
Auxiliary Verbs | 5.703 | 6.125 | 0.272 | -8.100 | 0.000 | 5.872 | 0.109 | -3.188 | 0.001 | 6.122 | 0.277 | -6.376 | 0.000
Relativity | 12.637 | 13.325 | 0.262 | -7.803 | 0.000 | 13.381 | 0.279 | -8.196 | 0.000 | 11.645 | 0.379 | 8.495 | 0.000
Achieve | 1.358 | 1.510 | 0.246 | -7.400 | 0.000 | 1.574 | 0.341 | -10.016 | 0.000 | 1.283 | 0.161 | 3.865 | 0.000
Conscientiousness | 0.520 | 0.539 | 0.235 | -7.048 | 0.000 | 0.558 | 0.471 | -13.823 | 0.000 | 0.512 | 0.114 | 2.660 | 0.008
Family | 0.402 | 0.479 | 0.220 | -6.613 | 0.000 | 0.423 | 0.055 | -1.629 | 0.103 | 0.360 | 0.159 | 3.747 | 0.000
Tentative | 1.761 | 1.886 | 0.197 | -5.859 | 0.000 | 1.865 | 0.162 | -4.773 | 0.000 | 1.975 | 0.339 | -7.566 | 0.000
Quantifiers | 1.560 | 1.661 | 0.170 | -5.077 | 0.000 | 1.692 | 0.216 | -6.338 | 0.000 | 1.628 | 0.136 | -3.349 | 0.001
Home | 0.397 | 0.467 | 0.158 | -4.795 | 0.000 | 0.460 | 0.134 | -3.949 | 0.000 | 0.349 | 0.196 | 4.649 | 0.000
Social | 8.775 | 9.088 | 0.145 | -4.342 | 0.000 | 8.765 | 0.005 | 0.140 | 0.889 | 8.978 | 0.107 | -2.498 | 0.013
Adjectives | 4.390 | 4.517 | 0.132 | -3.933 | 0.000 | 4.556 | 0.163 | -4.784 | 0.000 | 4.155 | 0.267 | 6.734 | 0.000
Leisure | 2.013 | 2.208 | 0.131 | -3.877 | 0.000 | 2.165 | 0.107 | -3.143 | 0.002 | 1.595 | 0.291 | 7.492 | 0.000
Red_State | 0.283 | 0.341 | 0.127 | 13.906 | 0.000 | 0.274 | 0.020 | 0.301 | 0.583 | 0.224 | 0.136 | 8.322 | 0.004
Cognitive Processes | 8.096 | 8.342 | 0.121 | -3.603 | 0.000 | 8.146 | 0.024 | -0.707 | 0.480 | 8.753 | 0.343 | -7.708 | 0.000
Impersonal Pronouns | 3.576 | 3.698 | 0.110 | -3.272 | 0.001 | 3.603 | 0.024 | -0.693 | 0.488 | 3.912 | 0.290 | -6.436 | 0.000
Negate | 0.896 | 0.940 | 0.109 | -3.258 | 0.001 | 0.852 | 0.113 | 3.325 | 0.001 | 1.007 | 0.297 | -6.610 | 0.000
Perceptional Processes | 2.737 | 2.838 | 0.102 | -3.028 | 0.002 | 2.725 | 0.012 | 0.366 | 0.714 | 2.482 | 0.286 | 7.375 | 0.000
Differentiation | 1.811 | 1.873 | 0.093 | -2.784 | 0.005 | 1.817 | 0.008 | -0.228 | 0.819 | 2.065 | 0.388 | -8.622 | 0.000
Certain | 1.316 | 1.355 | 0.087 | -2.592 | 0.010 | 1.292 | 0.051 | 1.496 | 0.135 | 1.367 | 0.117 | -2.735 | 0.006
Sadness | 0.421 | 0.435 | 0.068 | -2.018 | 0.044 | 0.385 | 0.181 | 5.318 | 0.000 | 0.424 | 0.015 | -0.346 | 0.729

Table WE3: Snopes Non Significant Effect Sizes | Fake-news Sharers | Random Sample | Matched Sample | Fact-Check Sharers
---|---|---|---|---
Predictor | Mean | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p
Blue_State | 0.435 | 0.418 | 0.035 | 1.012 | 0.314 | 0.443 | 0.016 | 0.195 | 0.659 | 0.538 | 0.207 | 20.261 | 0.000
Interrogatives | 1.273 | 1.288 | 0.035 | -1.047 | 0.295 | 1.224 | 0.117 | 3.425 | 0.001 | 1.356 | 0.217 | -4.995 | 0.000
Compare | 1.719 | 1.702 | 0.028 | 0.839 | 0.401 | 1.734 | 0.024 | -0.702 | 0.483 | 1.745 | 0.052 | -1.283 | 0.200
Negative High Arousal | 0.873 | 0.859 | 0.025 | 0.765 | 0.444 | 0.735 | 0.283 | 8.314 | 0.000 | 0.899 | 0.066 | -1.475 | 0.141
Sexual | 0.226 | 0.232 | 0.024 | -0.714 | 0.475 | 0.194 | 0.122 | 3.589 | 0.000 | 0.229 | 0.015 | -0.331 | 0.741
1st Person Plural | 0.660 | 0.670 | 0.021 | -0.624 | 0.533 | 0.702 | 0.086 | -2.536 | 0.011 | 0.678 | 0.049 | -1.124 | 0.261
See | 1.402 | 1.393 | 0.011 | 0.322 | 0.748 | 1.360 | 0.056 | 1.657 | 0.098 | 1.191 | 0.311 | 8.217 | 0.000
Past Focus | 2.465 | 2.463 | 0.003 | 0.094 | 0.925 | 2.380 | 0.107 | 3.153 | 0.002 | 2.579 | 0.158 | -3.640 | 0.000
Health | 0.593 | 0.592 | 0.002 | 0.047 | 0.963 | 0.573 | 0.040 | 1.165 | 0.244 | 0.530 | 0.156 | 3.432 | 0.001

## Web Appendix F -Hoaxy: Descriptive Analyses Fact-Check Sharers and Right-
and Left-wing Media Sharers

_Distinguishing Fake-News Sharers from Fact-Check Sharers._ The comparison of
fake-news sharers and fact-check sharers shows consistent effects across both
samples (Snopes and Hoaxy; see Figure WF-1 and WF-2 for Hoaxy). Notably, we
find that the variables distinguishing fake-news sharers from the random or
matched sample do not necessarily distinguish them well from fact-check
sharers. Fake-news sharers and fact-check sharers have important commonalities
in terms of their social media activity and certain textual cues. For example,
both groups are very active on social media platforms (tweets per day: 10.55
vs. 11.68, d = 0.07, p = 0.118). Moreover, the two groups show similarly high
levels of negative emotions, particularly anger (negative emotions: 2.46 vs.
2.48, d = 0.02, p = 0.592; anger: 1.02 vs. 1.03 d = 0.023, p = 0.60).

However, we also find variables that distinguish between the two groups well
in terms of socio-demographics, political affiliation, and textual cues. As
previously mentioned, fake-news sharers follow a considerably larger number of
fake-news outlets, confirming the face validity of our approach to identifying
fake-news and fact-check sharers (2.01 vs. 1.15, d = 0.31, p $<$ 0.001).
Compared to fact-check sharers, fake-news sharers are more conservative, as
seen in higher exclusive followership of Republican accounts (34% vs. 16%, h =
0.42, p $<$ 0.001), and also of conservative media outlets such as Fox News
(Fox News: 28% vs. 16%, h = 0.29,p $<$ 0.001).

We see traces in language that also distinguish fake-news sharers from fact-
check sharers. Mentions of existentially based needs, such as death and
religion, are considerably greater for fake-news sharers (death: 0.34 vs.
0.28, d = 0.25,p $<$ 0.001; religion: 0.53 vs. 0.41, d = 0.18,p $<$ 0.001).
Power, an important variable that distinguishes fake-news sharers from the
random and the matched sample, is also considerably higher for fake-news
sharers (3.35 vs. 3.18, d = 0.13,p $<$ 0.01). Interestingly, the language of
fake-news sharers is more analytical than that of fact-check sharers (80.68
vs. 77.00, d = 0.29,p $<$ 0.001). Regarding differences in personality traits,
we find that fake-news sharers are more agreeable (0.44 vs. 0.43, d = 0.20,p
$<$ 0.001) and exhibit lower levels of neuroticism (0.42 vs. 0.44, d = 0.24,p
$<$ 0.001) than fact-check sharers, although both groups have significantly
higher levels of neuroticism compared to all other groups.

_Distinguishing Fake-News Sharers from Left and Right-Leaning Media Sharers._
Even though fake-news sharers and followers of right-leaning media outlets
both tend to be conservative, they have notable differences. Compared to
sharers of right-leaning media outlets, fake-news sharers have greater
exclusive followership of Republican accounts, and conservative media outlets
such as Fox News (GOP: 54% vs. 26%, h = 0.59,p $<$ 0.001; Fox News: 48% vs.
27%, h = 0.43,p $<$ 0.001). However, these differences are presumably largely
driven by the greater social media activity of fake-news sharers as observed
in the number of tweets per day and the number of status counts. To test the
robustness of our results particularly given the large average follower count
for fact-check sharers, we also test the robustness of our Hoaxy comparisons
between the groups also on a subset of users with less than 10,000 followers
and find similar results.

In terms of emotions, we again find negative emotions and particularly the
high arousal negative emotion of anger to be elevated for fake-news sharers
compared to both right and left-leaning media outlet sharers (Negative
Emotions (Fake vs. Right): 2.75 vs. 1.92, d = 1.02,p $<$ 0.001; Negative
Emotions (Fake vs. Left): 2.75 vs. 2.16, d = 0.72,p $<$ 0.001; Anger (Fake vs.
Right): 1.21 vs. 0.68, d = 1.10,p $<$ 0.001; Anger (Fake vs. Left): 1.21 vs.
0.81, d = 0.81,p $<$ 0.001). Additionally, mentions of existentially based
needs such as death and religion are elevated for fake-news sharers compared
to left and right-leaning media outlet sharers, similar to results presented
when comparing fake-news sharers to the random and the matched sample of
Twitter users (Death (Fake vs. Right): 0.36 vs. 0.25, d = 0.45,p $<$ 0.001;
Death (Fake vs. Left): 0.36 vs. 0.29, d = 0.32,p $<$ 0.001; Religion (Fake vs.
Right): 0.75 vs. 0.27, d = 0.61,p $<$ 0.001; Religion (Fake vs. Left): 0.75
vs. 0.36, d = 0.47,p $<$ 0.001). Fake-news sharers are more neurotic compared
to both left and right-leaning media sharers (Fake vs. Right: 0.45 vs. 0.39, d
= 0.82,p $<$ 0.001, Fake vs. Left: 0.45 vs. 0.41, d = 0.54,p $<$ 0.001). The
results of all variables comparing fake-news sharers to the right-leaning,
left-leaning, and fact-check sharers are displayed in the Tables below.

Apart from the consistency of results across the two datasets, the Hoaxy
sample allows us to gain insights into differences between fake-news sharers
and other individuals with a similarly conservative-leaning political opinion
through direct comparisons of fake-news sharers and right-leaning news
sharers. This comparison enables us to go beyond a simple statement about the
role of political ideology in misinformation. The right-leaning news sharers
sample consists of individuals who shared news from mainstream right-leaning
media outlets but did not share a link or articles from our pre-identified
misinformation sources during the measurement window. While it is possible
that users in our right-leaning group shared misinformation sources outside of
our measurement window or through sources that we had not identified as
misinformation, our results nevertheless suggest that there are important
differences between these two groups in textual cues such as high-arousal
negative emotions, and anger and anxiety.

The figures and tables below show the comparison of Fake-Sharers, the right-
and left-leaning media outlet sharer and the Fact-Check Sharers. In the
tables, the mean column for factor variables indicates the proportion, the
column of the t-value indicates the z-value and the columns of Cohen’s D
indicates Cohen’s H.

Figure WF-1: Hoaxy dataset: Values that positively discriminate fake-news sharers Figure WF-2: Hoaxy dataset: Values that negatively discriminate fake-news sharers Table WF1: Hoaxy Positive Effect Sizes | F-N Sharers | Right-Leaning Media Sharers | Left-Leaning Media Sharers | Fact-Check Sharers
---|---|---|---|---
Predictor | Mean | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p
Negative High Arousal | 0.990 | 0.563 | 1.149 | 12.243 | 0.000 | 0.672 | 0.836 | 9.406 | 0.000 | 1.025 | 0.074 | -0.888 | 0.375
Anger | 1.209 | 0.676 | 1.102 | 11.667 | 0.000 | 0.812 | 0.806 | 9.132 | 0.000 | 1.138 | 0.132 | 1.548 | 0.122
Negative Emotions | 2.749 | 1.924 | 1.019 | 10.711 | 0.000 | 2.159 | 0.721 | 8.238 | 0.000 | 2.611 | 0.157 | 1.858 | 0.064
Swear | 0.443 | 0.127 | 0.818 | 8.999 | 0.000 | 0.191 | 0.641 | 6.946 | 0.000 | 0.510 | 0.138 | -1.596 | 0.111
Neuroticism | 0.446 | 0.386 | 0.816 | 8.511 | 0.000 | 0.408 | 0.543 | 6.215 | 0.000 | 0.463 | 0.268 | -3.063 | 0.002
Certain | 1.459 | 1.092 | 0.790 | 8.399 | 0.000 | 1.186 | 0.580 | 6.537 | 0.000 | 1.478 | 0.045 | -0.503 | 0.615
Number Fake Outlets Followed | 3.966 | 1.256 | 0.776 | 8.498 | 0.000 | 0.879 | 0.985 | 10.354 | 0.000 | 1.530 | 0.712 | 7.680 | 0.000
Body | 0.484 | 0.324 | 0.731 | 7.752 | 0.000 | 0.419 | 0.266 | 3.060 | 0.002 | 0.512 | 0.107 | -1.272 | 0.204
Personal Pronouns | 6.406 | 4.886 | 0.714 | 7.605 | 0.000 | 5.410 | 0.457 | 5.143 | 0.000 | 7.483 | 0.523 | -5.873 | 0.000
Negate | 1.006 | 0.764 | 0.653 | 6.952 | 0.000 | 0.846 | 0.425 | 4.778 | 0.000 | 1.132 | 0.342 | -3.873 | 0.000
Wikileaks | 0.419 | 0.145 | 0.628 | 38.957 | 0.000 | 0.159 | 0.590 | 43.049 | 0.000 | 0.216 | 0.443 | 25.527 | 0.000
Affect | 6.480 | 5.714 | 0.622 | 6.537 | 0.000 | 5.899 | 0.425 | 4.930 | 0.000 | 6.286 | 0.150 | 1.755 | 0.080
Informal | 1.894 | 1.274 | 0.608 | 6.585 | 0.000 | 1.420 | 0.436 | 4.861 | 0.000 | 1.996 | 0.093 | -1.052 | 0.293
Pronoun | 10.004 | 8.112 | 0.607 | 6.463 | 0.000 | 8.893 | 0.345 | 3.884 | 0.000 | 11.607 | 0.554 | -6.137 | 0.000
Sexual | 0.249 | 0.120 | 0.607 | 6.511 | 0.000 | 0.177 | 0.276 | 3.188 | 0.002 | 0.204 | 0.216 | 2.396 | 0.017
Religion | 0.751 | 0.268 | 0.606 | 6.741 | 0.000 | 0.363 | 0.471 | 5.071 | 0.000 | 0.371 | 0.496 | 5.196 | 0.000
3rd Person Plural | 0.689 | 0.498 | 0.598 | 6.461 | 0.000 | 0.509 | 0.569 | 6.261 | 0.000 | 0.748 | 0.170 | -1.941 | 0.053
GOP | 0.538 | 0.256 | 0.586 | 35.219 | 0.000 | 0.121 | 0.938 | 104.435 | 0.000 | 0.244 | 0.613 | 48.659 | 0.000
3rd Person Singular | 0.973 | 0.700 | 0.548 | 5.739 | 0.000 | 0.797 | 0.343 | 3.948 | 0.000 | 1.188 | 0.394 | -4.695 | 0.000
2nd Person | 1.806 | 1.279 | 0.535 | 5.763 | 0.000 | 1.464 | 0.335 | 3.725 | 0.000 | 2.436 | 0.571 | -6.565 | 0.000
Drudge Report | 0.453 | 0.217 | 0.507 | 26.213 | 0.000 | 0.124 | 0.757 | 69.602 | 0.000 | 0.152 | 0.675 | 58.986 | 0.000
Male Words | 1.140 | 0.869 | 0.503 | 5.200 | 0.000 | 0.954 | 0.374 | 4.309 | 0.000 | 1.271 | 0.264 | -3.100 | 0.002
Death | 0.362 | 0.252 | 0.479 | 4.999 | 0.000 | 0.293 | 0.319 | 3.637 | 0.000 | 0.220 | 0.751 | 8.376 | 0.000
Social | 8.840 | 7.977 | 0.458 | 4.838 | 0.000 | 8.393 | 0.233 | 2.652 | 0.008 | 9.769 | 0.510 | -5.816 | 0.000
Red_State | 0.288 | 0.111 | 0.454 | 20.102 | 0.000 | 0.159 | 0.314 | 12.105 | 0.001 | 0.213 | 0.175 | 3.753 | 0.053
1st Person Singular | 2.225 | 1.619 | 0.433 | 4.640 | 0.000 | 1.867 | 0.244 | 2.734 | 0.006 | 2.398 | 0.119 | -1.353 | 0.177
Fox News | 0.475 | 0.271 | 0.426 | 18.646 | 0.000 | 0.162 | 0.691 | 58.777 | 0.000 | 0.289 | 0.385 | 19.202 | 0.000
Bio | 1.655 | 1.334 | 0.419 | 4.419 | 0.000 | 1.684 | 0.031 | -0.368 | 0.713 | 1.543 | 0.159 | 1.789 | 0.074
See | 1.212 | 0.992 | 0.416 | 4.520 | 0.000 | 1.059 | 0.300 | 3.260 | 0.001 | 1.041 | 0.316 | 3.500 | 0.001
Tweets Per Day | 23.425 | 9.928 | 0.415 | 4.506 | 0.000 | 14.099 | 0.233 | 2.670 | 0.008 | 14.172 | 0.272 | 3.037 | 0.003
Female Words | 0.555 | 0.407 | 0.414 | 4.223 | 0.000 | 0.462 | 0.298 | 3.483 | 0.001 | 0.582 | 0.084 | -1.009 | 0.313
Perceptional Processes | 2.416 | 2.133 | 0.409 | 4.367 | 0.000 | 2.319 | 0.137 | 1.536 | 0.125 | 2.261 | 0.222 | 2.511 | 0.012
Nonfluencies | 0.212 | 0.156 | 0.398 | 4.242 | 0.000 | 0.175 | 0.240 | 2.722 | 0.007 | 0.269 | 0.320 | -3.839 | 0.000
Verbs | 12.109 | 11.229 | 0.397 | 4.233 | 0.000 | 11.638 | 0.203 | 2.289 | 0.022 | 12.967 | 0.408 | -4.548 | 0.000
Filler | 0.022 | 0.013 | 0.371 | 4.010 | 0.000 | 0.018 | 0.154 | 1.734 | 0.084 | 0.024 | 0.052 | -0.598 | 0.550
Auxiliary Verbs | 5.878 | 5.305 | 0.367 | 3.905 | 0.000 | 5.576 | 0.187 | 2.111 | 0.035 | 6.559 | 0.467 | -5.197 | 0.000
Status Count | 61090.148 | 30219.715 | 0.345 | 3.700 | 0.000 | 43094.424 | 0.145 | 1.709 | 0.088 | 27023.559 | 0.438 | 4.669 | 0.000
Swing_State | 0.246 | 0.121 | 0.328 | 10.509 | 0.001 | 0.176 | 0.172 | 3.456 | 0.063 | 0.244 | 0.003 | 0.000 | 1.000
Impersonal Pronouns | 3.594 | 3.223 | 0.302 | 3.206 | 0.001 | 3.479 | 0.091 | 1.026 | 0.305 | 4.120 | 0.471 | -5.214 | 0.000
Past Focus | 2.390 | 2.170 | 0.301 | 3.169 | 0.002 | 2.243 | 0.193 | 2.211 | 0.028 | 2.564 | 0.250 | -2.853 | 0.005
Sadness | 0.419 | 0.370 | 0.289 | 3.016 | 0.003 | 0.388 | 0.224 | 2.478 | 0.014 | 0.415 | 0.021 | 0.251 | 0.802
Positive Low Arousal | 1.359 | 1.225 | 0.289 | 3.092 | 0.002 | 1.276 | 0.165 | 1.872 | 0.062 | 1.403 | 0.086 | -0.985 | 0.325
Present Focus | 8.340 | 7.891 | 0.267 | 2.851 | 0.005 | 8.104 | 0.135 | 1.521 | 0.129 | 8.907 | 0.348 | -3.898 | 0.000
Netspeak | 0.889 | 0.719 | 0.264 | 2.872 | 0.004 | 0.749 | 0.194 | 2.177 | 0.030 | 0.861 | 0.042 | 0.470 | 0.639
Adverbs | 3.683 | 3.403 | 0.260 | 2.756 | 0.006 | 3.537 | 0.131 | 1.488 | 0.137 | 4.113 | 0.447 | -4.956 | 0.000
Leisure | 1.676 | 1.403 | 0.226 | 2.461 | 0.014 | 1.527 | 0.116 | 1.287 | 0.199 | 1.191 | 0.395 | 4.357 | 0.000
Assent | 0.385 | 0.319 | 0.213 | 2.294 | 0.022 | 0.347 | 0.118 | 1.319 | 0.188 | 0.413 | 0.094 | -1.044 | 0.297
Friends Count | 6424.496 | 3130.647 | 0.203 | 2.235 | 0.026 | 4593.266 | 0.096 | 1.076 | 0.283 | 2231.597 | 0.296 | 3.024 | 0.003
Interrogatives | 1.320 | 1.241 | 0.192 | 2.019 | 0.044 | 1.288 | 0.078 | 0.887 | 0.375 | 1.483 | 0.415 | -4.756 | 0.000
Openness | 0.626 | 0.612 | 0.191 | 2.003 | 0.046 | 0.634 | 0.116 | -1.320 | 0.187 | 0.611 | 0.238 | 2.690 | 0.007
Table WF2: Hoaxy Negative Effect Sizes | FN Sharers | Right-leaning Media Sharers | Left-leaning Media Sharers | Fact-Check Sharers
---|---|---|---|---
Predictor | Mean | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p
Conscientuousness | 0.506 | 0.579 | 1.041 | -10.996 | 0.000 | 0.556 | 0.740 | -8.312 | 0.000 | 0.498 | 0.127 | 1.432 | 0.153
Work | 2.725 | 4.331 | 0.937 | -9.520 | 0.000 | 3.643 | 0.593 | -7.003 | 0.000 | 2.462 | 0.239 | 2.686 | 0.007
Prepositions | 11.234 | 13.139 | 0.863 | -9.116 | 0.000 | 12.692 | 0.629 | -7.191 | 0.000 | 9.838 | 0.661 | 7.513 | 0.000
Age | 32.705 | 35.540 | 0.823 | -8.584 | 0.000 | 34.797 | 0.594 | -6.865 | 0.000 | 32.543 | 0.052 | 0.601 | 0.548
Analytic | 79.054 | 88.135 | 0.772 | -8.271 | 0.000 | 85.083 | 0.496 | -5.558 | 0.000 | 71.532 | 0.616 | 6.998 | 0.000
Relativity | 11.518 | 13.532 | 0.757 | -7.877 | 0.000 | 12.988 | 0.524 | -6.103 | 0.000 | 9.885 | 0.695 | 7.958 | 0.000
Money | 0.885 | 1.672 | 0.747 | -7.467 | 0.000 | 1.148 | 0.333 | -4.008 | 0.000 | 0.909 | 0.047 | -0.541 | 0.589
Achieve | 1.313 | 1.762 | 0.720 | -7.414 | 0.000 | 1.609 | 0.426 | -5.065 | 0.000 | 1.184 | 0.269 | 3.043 | 0.002
Time | 3.883 | 4.649 | 0.671 | -6.933 | 0.000 | 4.470 | 0.550 | -6.351 | 0.000 | 3.627 | 0.236 | 2.799 | 0.005
Blue_State | 0.466 | 0.768 | 0.634 | 40.917 | 0.000 | 0.666 | 0.405 | 20.378 | 0.000 | 0.543 | 0.154 | 2.881 | 0.090
Emotional Tone | 43.173 | 57.228 | 0.596 | -6.279 | 0.000 | 51.831 | 0.347 | -3.986 | 0.000 | 44.584 | 0.061 | -0.698 | 0.485
Motion | 1.487 | 1.736 | 0.589 | -6.104 | 0.000 | 1.688 | 0.350 | -4.214 | 0.000 | 1.375 | 0.300 | 3.459 | 0.001
Space | 6.253 | 7.315 | 0.570 | -6.031 | 0.000 | 6.951 | 0.341 | -3.924 | 0.000 | 4.984 | 0.793 | 8.701 | 0.000
Wall Street Journal | 0.288 | 0.560 | 0.559 | 32.548 | 0.000 | 0.355 | 0.144 | 2.368 | 0.124 | 0.229 | 0.136 | 2.221 | 0.136
Authentic | 18.848 | 25.695 | 0.535 | -5.604 | 0.000 | 25.009 | 0.447 | -5.179 | 0.000 | 13.633 | 0.437 | 5.004 | 0.000
No Party Followed | 0.161 | 0.377 | 0.496 | 25.463 | 0.000 | 0.376 | 0.494 | 28.768 | 0.000 | 0.263 | 0.252 | 7.680 | 0.006
Agreeableness | 0.413 | 0.449 | 0.464 | -4.912 | 0.000 | 0.441 | 0.366 | -4.121 | 0.000 | 0.401 | 0.162 | 1.814 | 0.070
Drives | 7.950 | 8.690 | 0.448 | -4.691 | 0.000 | 8.316 | 0.208 | -2.407 | 0.016 | 7.281 | 0.449 | 5.096 | 0.000
Word Count | 20589.131 | 25872.633 | 0.419 | -4.401 | 0.000 | 25381.241 | 0.369 | -4.226 | 0.000 | 20593.581 | 0.000 | -0.004 | 0.997
Adjectives | 4.153 | 4.480 | 0.418 | -4.427 | 0.000 | 4.415 | 0.329 | -3.728 | 0.000 | 3.867 | 0.376 | 4.278 | 0.000
Number | 0.637 | 0.759 | 0.406 | -4.127 | 0.000 | 0.719 | 0.367 | -4.206 | 0.000 | 0.595 | 0.191 | 2.212 | 0.027
Reward | 1.287 | 1.474 | 0.404 | -4.204 | 0.000 | 1.370 | 0.177 | -2.054 | 0.040 | 1.250 | 0.093 | 1.054 | 0.293
Articles | 5.074 | 5.590 | 0.395 | -4.165 | 0.000 | 5.439 | 0.280 | -3.181 | 0.002 | 5.165 | 0.078 | -0.873 | 0.383
Cause | 1.321 | 1.490 | 0.383 | -3.991 | 0.000 | 1.465 | 0.337 | -3.853 | 0.000 | 1.428 | 0.286 | -3.218 | 0.001
Compare | 1.741 | 1.939 | 0.368 | -3.935 | 0.000 | 1.894 | 0.296 | -3.269 | 0.001 | 1.665 | 0.160 | 1.737 | 0.083
Affiliation | 1.979 | 2.288 | 0.350 | -3.613 | 0.000 | 2.189 | 0.259 | -2.978 | 0.003 | 1.935 | 0.060 | 0.685 | 0.494
Washington Post | 0.297 | 0.444 | 0.308 | 9.762 | 0.002 | 0.448 | 0.315 | 12.065 | 0.001 | 0.352 | 0.119 | 1.658 | 0.198
Economist | 0.216 | 0.348 | 0.295 | 8.895 | 0.003 | 0.262 | 0.108 | 1.261 | 0.262 | 0.168 | 0.122 | 1.717 | 0.190
New York Times | 0.335 | 0.473 | 0.284 | 8.272 | 0.004 | 0.528 | 0.392 | 18.853 | 0.000 | 0.390 | 0.116 | 1.573 | 0.210
Extraversion | 0.402 | 0.422 | 0.281 | -2.947 | 0.003 | 0.408 | 0.082 | -0.931 | 0.352 | 0.398 | 0.061 | 0.691 | 0.490
New Yorker | 0.208 | 0.304 | 0.223 | 4.961 | 0.026 | 0.352 | 0.323 | 12.506 | 0.000 | 0.203 | 0.011 | 0.000 | 0.983
Table WF3: Hoaxy Non Significant Effect Sizes | Fake-news Sharers | Right-leaning Media Sharers | Left-leaning Media Sharers | Fact-Check Sharers
---|---|---|---|---
Predictor | Mean | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p | Mean | D | t | p
Discrepancies | 1.240 | 1.165 | 0.186 | 1.954 | 0.051 | 1.234 | 0.016 | 0.186 | 0.852 | 1.398 | 0.405 | -4.648 | 0.000
Hear | 0.770 | 0.709 | 0.186 | 1.948 | 0.052 | 0.770 | 0.001 | -0.016 | 0.987 | 0.796 | 0.083 | -0.962 | 0.336
Home | 0.328 | 0.376 | 0.180 | -1.887 | 0.060 | 0.366 | 0.163 | -1.810 | 0.071 | 0.279 | 0.211 | 2.375 | 0.018
Quantifiers | 1.545 | 1.630 | 0.178 | -1.912 | 0.057 | 1.618 | 0.143 | -1.603 | 0.110 | 1.622 | 0.171 | -1.873 | 0.062
Negative Low Arousal | 0.370 | 0.343 | 0.177 | 1.847 | 0.066 | 0.355 | 0.113 | 1.266 | 0.206 | 0.408 | 0.192 | -2.386 | 0.017
Anxiety | 0.306 | 0.283 | 0.160 | 1.663 | 0.097 | 0.297 | 0.058 | 0.680 | 0.497 | 0.266 | 0.327 | 3.699 | 0.000
Followers Count | 20531.903 | 72408.324 | 0.159 | -1.563 | 0.120 | 98365.634 | 0.259 | -3.268 | 0.001 | 117617.438 | 0.091 | -1.215 | 0.225
1st Person Plural | 0.714 | 0.791 | 0.158 | -1.625 | 0.105 | 0.772 | 0.124 | -1.448 | 0.148 | 0.713 | 0.003 | 0.030 | 0.976
Dictionary | 69.668 | 70.641 | 0.155 | -1.668 | 0.096 | 71.197 | 0.236 | -2.630 | 0.009 | 69.474 | 0.028 | 0.322 | 0.748
Cognitive Processes | 8.159 | 7.889 | 0.135 | 1.421 | 0.156 | 8.255 | 0.048 | -0.549 | 0.583 | 8.956 | 0.446 | -5.046 | 0.000
DEM & GOP | 0.208 | 0.261 | 0.126 | 1.466 | 0.226 | 0.245 | 0.089 | 0.822 | 0.365 | 0.257 | 0.117 | 1.571 | 0.210
Aljazeera English | 0.148 | 0.111 | 0.111 | 1.034 | 0.309 | 0.159 | 0.029 | 0.042 | 0.838 | 0.079 | 0.219 | 5.917 | 0.015
Words $>$ 6 letters | 25.581 | 26.068 | 0.104 | -1.115 | 0.265 | 25.606 | 0.005 | -0.060 | 0.952 | 26.406 | 0.164 | -1.885 | 0.060
Family | 0.347 | 0.318 | 0.102 | 1.036 | 0.301 | 0.335 | 0.051 | 0.594 | 0.553 | 0.338 | 0.038 | 0.455 | 0.649
Differentiation | 1.876 | 1.812 | 0.095 | 0.995 | 0.320 | 1.932 | 0.079 | -0.905 | 0.366 | 2.152 | 0.451 | -5.088 | 0.000
Function Words | 38.658 | 38.111 | 0.094 | 1.001 | 0.317 | 38.819 | 0.027 | -0.299 | 0.765 | 40.382 | 0.304 | -3.390 | 0.001
Future Focus | 1.014 | 1.043 | 0.093 | -0.982 | 0.327 | 1.002 | 0.039 | 0.438 | 0.662 | 0.944 | 0.239 | 2.690 | 0.007
Dailybeast | 0.169 | 0.203 | 0.086 | 0.609 | 0.435 | 0.200 | 0.079 | 0.610 | 0.435 | 0.146 | 0.064 | 0.400 | 0.527
Buzz Feed | 0.131 | 0.159 | 0.080 | 0.494 | 0.482 | 0.193 | 0.168 | 3.160 | 0.075 | 0.146 | 0.042 | 0.135 | 0.713
Risk | 0.656 | 0.676 | 0.077 | -0.794 | 0.428 | 0.681 | 0.092 | -1.077 | 0.282 | 0.600 | 0.265 | 2.953 | 0.003
Positive High Arousal | 0.701 | 0.732 | 0.071 | -0.751 | 0.453 | 0.720 | 0.035 | -0.408 | 0.683 | 0.676 | 0.058 | 0.665 | 0.507
CNN | 0.271 | 0.300 | 0.063 | 0.307 | 0.580 | 0.352 | 0.174 | 3.543 | 0.060 | 0.387 | 0.248 | 7.624 | 0.006
Conjunctions | 3.545 | 3.486 | 0.057 | 0.606 | 0.545 | 3.598 | 0.052 | -0.578 | 0.563 | 3.886 | 0.356 | -3.941 | 0.000
USA Today | 0.191 | 0.169 | 0.056 | 0.217 | 0.641 | 0.248 | 0.139 | 2.174 | 0.140 | 0.194 | 0.008 | 0.000 | 1.000
Ingestion | 0.344 | 0.364 | 0.055 | -0.579 | 0.563 | 0.434 | 0.189 | -2.243 | 0.025 | 0.332 | 0.036 | 0.404 | 0.687
Tentative | 1.696 | 1.662 | 0.054 | 0.565 | 0.572 | 1.755 | 0.094 | -1.065 | 0.287 | 1.954 | 0.442 | -4.998 | 0.000
Insight | 1.651 | 1.677 | 0.052 | -0.541 | 0.589 | 1.760 | 0.227 | -2.597 | 0.010 | 1.768 | 0.263 | -3.013 | 0.003
Number Fact Outlets Followed | 0.322 | 0.290 | 0.049 | 0.523 | 0.601 | 0.338 | 0.021 | -0.245 | 0.807 | 0.384 | 0.083 | -0.973 | 0.331
Salon | 0.106 | 0.092 | 0.047 | 0.114 | 0.736 | 0.172 | 0.193 | 4.176 | 0.041 | 0.121 | 0.046 | 0.161 | 0.688
DEM | 0.093 | 0.106 | 0.044 | 0.090 | 0.765 | 0.259 | 0.446 | 22.580 | 0.000 | 0.235 | 0.391 | 17.857 | 0.000
Health | 0.518 | 0.499 | 0.041 | 0.429 | 0.668 | 0.648 | 0.229 | -2.703 | 0.007 | 0.420 | 0.281 | 2.989 | 0.003
Positive Emotions | 3.685 | 3.731 | 0.039 | -0.416 | 0.678 | 3.683 | 0.002 | 0.022 | 0.983 | 3.627 | 0.049 | 0.569 | 0.570
Power | 3.651 | 3.691 | 0.035 | -0.375 | 0.708 | 3.586 | 0.053 | 0.611 | 0.542 | 3.128 | 0.463 | 5.298 | 0.000
LA Times | 0.161 | 0.150 | 0.031 | 0.038 | 0.846 | 0.221 | 0.152 | 2.595 | 0.107 | 0.149 | 0.033 | 0.068 | 0.794
Clout | 71.042 | 70.793 | 0.026 | 0.273 | 0.785 | 71.123 | 0.009 | -0.096 | 0.923 | 74.086 | 0.320 | -3.649 | 0.000
Feel | 0.342 | 0.339 | 0.011 | 0.111 | 0.912 | 0.362 | 0.097 | -1.049 | 0.295 | 0.323 | 0.099 | 1.051 | 0.294
Friend | 0.259 | 0.258 | 0.009 | 0.095 | 0.925 | 0.246 | 0.093 | 1.045 | 0.297 | 0.268 | 0.059 | -0.679 | 0.498
Gender (Male) | 0.699 | 0.696 | 0.008 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 0.662 | 0.080 | 0.659 | 0.417 | 0.568 | 0.273 | 9.306 | 0.002

## Web Appendix G - Robustness Analyses: Mentions in tweets

Table WG1: Comparisons of Mentions in Tweets and Fake-News and Fact-Check
Outlet Followership by Group
(a) Panel A: Snopes Sample*

Group | Avg Fake | Avg Fact Check | Avg # Fake Outlets | Avg # Fact Outlets | Proportion Following | Proportion Following
---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| Mentions | Mentions | Followed | Followed | at least 1 Fake Outlet | at least 1 Fact Outlet
Fake-news Sharers | 3.83 | 0.14 | 2.01 | 0.24 | 0.57 | 0.17
Fact-check Sharers | 2.76 | 0.23 | 1.15 | 0.49 | 0.50 | 0.30
Random Group | 0.22 | 0.02 | 0.24 | 0.04 | 0.16 | 0.04

(b) Panel B: Hoaxy Sample*

Group | Avg Fake | Avg Fact Check | Avg # Fake Outlets | Avg # Fact Outlets | Proportion Following | Proportion Following
---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| Mentions | Mentions | Followed | Followed | at least 1 Fake Outlet | at least 1 Fact Outlet
Fake-news Sharers | 2.56 | 0.20 | 3.97 | 0.32 | 0.79 | 0.21
Fact-check Sharers | 1.18 | 3.49 | 1.53 | 0.38 | 0.53 | 0.25
Left-leaning media sharers | 1.36 | 0.22 | 0.88 | 0.34 | 0.43 | 0.21
Right-leaning media sharers | 1.45 | 0.33 | 1.26 | 0.29 | 0.54 | 0.24

Notes:
* For the Snopes sample, the differences between fake-news sharers and all other groups regarding the fake-news outlets followed as well as the fake-news outlets mentioned are statistically significant except for the difference between the fake-news mentioned by fake-news sharers and fact-check sharers
* For the Hoaxy sample, the differences between fake-news sharers and all other groups for fake mentions as well as fake-news outlets followership are statistically significant. None of the differences is significant for fact-check outlet mentions or followership.

Table WG2: Comparisons of Mentions in Tweets by Group in 2023 Group | Avg Fake | Avg Fact Check
---|---|---
| Mentions | Mentions
Fake-news Sharers | 4.42 | 0.177
Fact-check Sharers | 2.43 | 0.289
Random Group | 0.242 | 0.0194

## Web Appendix H - Robustness Alternative Measures

### Alternative emotions measures via NRC

We analyze the Snopes dataset using the three NRC lexica: NRC-VAD, NRC
emotion, and NRC emotion intensity. As with the LIWC dictionary, we find that
fake-news sharers write significantly more negatively and with higher arousal
in their language compared to the random group. Moreover, in line with our
previous findings we find that fake-news sharers and fact-check sharers use
significantly more angry and fearful words compared to the random group.
Additionally, the words used by fake-news sharers and fact-check sharers have
a significantly higher intensity on both anger and fear compared to the random
group.

Table WH1: NRC comparison fake-news sharers vs. other groups Variable | Mean | Mean | Mean | Fake vs. | Fake vs. | Fake vs. | Fake vs.
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| Fake-news | Fact-check | Random | Fact | Fact | Random | Random
| Sharers | Sharers | Sample | t-Value | p-value | t-Value | p-value
Positive | 0.042 | 0.040 | 0.041 | 6.182 | 0.000 | 3.479 | 0.001
Negative | 0.031 | 0.031 | 0.022 | 1.293 | 0.196 | 27.890 | 0.000
Anger | 0.016 | 0.015 | 0.011 | 1.610 | 0.108 | 24.530 | 0.000
Anger intensity | 0.496 | 0.492 | 0.491 | 1.927 | 0.054 | 2.763 | 0.006
Fear | 0.019 | 0.018 | 0.012 | 4.021 | 0.000 | 30.210 | 0.000
Fear intensity | 0.393 | 0.393 | 0.348 | 0.217 | 0.828 | 24.055 | 0.000
VAD valence | 0.160 | 0.154 | 0.161 | 5.700 | 0.000 | -0.311 | 0.756
VAD arousal | 0.126 | 0.121 | 0.116 | 5.553 | 0.000 | 14.508 | 0.000

### Alternative emotions measures via MTurk coded emotions

To further test the robustness of our results on emotions, a subset of the
tweets were rated by the human coders on MTurk. We conducted a survey in which
MTurkers first read the following descriptions and instructions: ”We would
like to assess emotions in tweets people post on their Twitter page. A tweet
can incorporate multiple emotions and we are interested in how much a tweet
incorporates different emotions.” We specified that their task would be to
answer questions about multiple tweets and we asked them to look at an
exemplary tweet before starting the survey. The participants then clicked on
an embedded URL that displayed the first original tweet. Raters were then
instructed to read the tweet and score it on negative emotions, anger, and
anxiety on a 1-5 scale answering the question on whether the tweets contained
the particular emotion. Survey participants could rate as many tweets as they
wanted. In total we gathered 92,165 ratings from MTurk coders for 21,060
unique tweets of the Fake-News Sharer, the Fact-Check Sharers and the Random
Sample. We compare the language differences across the three groups (fake-news
sharers, fact-check sharers, random group) on a tweet level and a user level.
On the tweet level, we compare the average emotion scores for each tweet
assigned by the human coders across the groups. On the user level, we average
the emotion scores of the tweets for each user and subsequently compare the
users of the three different groups. We replicate our results both on a tweet
as well as on a user level. Specifically, we find that fake-news sharers write
overall more negatively and share more angry and anxious tweets compared to
the random group (see Table WH3 and WH2 for the results).

Finally, we use the subset of coded tweets to fine-tune a BERT model and
predict the remaining tweets that were not coded by humans. Comparing the full
sample of tweets among the groups leads to the same results such that fake-
news sharers use significantly more negative, angry and anxious language
compared to the random group (See Table WH4 and Table WH5 for the results).

Table WH2: MTurk Subsample - Tweet Level Variable | Mean | Mean | Mean | Fake vs. | Fake vs. | Fake vs. | Fake vs.
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| Fake-news | Fact-check | Random | Fact | Fact | Random | Random
| Sharers | Sharers | Sample | t-Value | p-value | t-Value | p-value
Anger | 2.73 | 2.80 | 2.50 | -3.81 | 0.00 | 16.04 | 0.00
Anxiety | 2.74 | 2.76 | 2.68 | -1.42 | 0.16 | 4.70 | 0.00
Negative | 3.03 | 3.10 | 2.74 | -3.33 | 0.00 | 18.93 | 0.00
Table WH3: MTurk Subsample - User Level Variable | Mean | Mean | Mean | Fake vs. | Fake vs. | Fake vs. | Fake vs.
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| Fake-news | Fact-check | Random | Fact | Fact | Random | Random
| Sharers | Sharers | Sample | t-Value | p-value | t-Value | p-value
Anger | 2.73 | 2.80 | 2.50 | -3.36 | 0.00 | 14.31 | 0.00
Anxiety | 2.74 | 2.76 | 2.68 | -1.39 | 0.17 | 4.45 | 0.00
Negative | 3.03 | 3.10 | 2.74 | -2.90 | 0.00 | 16.49 | 0.00
Table WH4: BERT - Tweet Level Variable | Mean | Mean | Mean | Fake vs. | Fake vs. | Fake vs. | Fake vs.
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| Fake-news | Fact-check | Random | Fact | Fact | Random | Random
| Sharers | Sharers | Sample | t-Value | p-value | t-Value | p-value
Anger | 2.65 | 2.73 | 2.45 | -107.72 | 0.00 | 357.25 | 0.00
Anxiety | 2.73 | 2.77 | 2.64 | -52.92 | 0.00 | 174.39 | 0.00
Negative | 2.74 | 2.79 | 2.64 | -63.88 | 0.00 | 189.56 | 0.00
Table WH5: BERT - User Level Variable | Mean | Mean | Mean | Fake vs. | Fake vs. | Fake vs. | Fake vs.
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| Fake-news | Fact-check | Random | Fact | Fact | Random | Random
| Sharers | Sharers | Sample | t-Value | p-value | t-Value | p-value
Anger | 2.67 | 2.75 | 2.45 | -5.83 | 0.00 | 25.66 | 0.00
Anxiety | 2.74 | 2.78 | 2.63 | -4.80 | 0.00 | 18.83 | 0.00
Negative | 2.76 | 2.80 | 2.63 | -4.93 | 0.00 | 19.71 | 0.00

## Web Appendix I - Comparison Magic Sauce and Park et al. (2005)

Table WI1: Correlations of Two Personality Models | Correlation Personality Scores - Snopes
---
Agreeableness: 0.69 (p $<$ 0.01)
Openness: 0.54 (p $<$ 0.01)
Extraversion: 0.35 (p $<$ 0.01)
Neuroticism: 0.58 (p $<$ 0.01)
Conscientuousness: 0.39 (p $<$ 0.01)
Table WI2: Comparison Personality Models - Snopes | Park et al. (2015) | Magic Sauce
---|---|---
Openness | Cohen’s d | p | Cohen’s d | p
Fake-news Sharers vs. Fact-check Sharers | 0.23 | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.49
Fake-news Sharers vs. Random Sample | 0.54 | 0.00 | 0.72 | 0.00
Conscientuousness |  |  |
Fake-news Sharers vs. Fact-check Sharers | 0.15 | 0.00 | 0.11 | 0.01
Fake-news Sharers vs. Random Sample | 0.36 | 0.00 | 0.23 | 0.00
Extraversion |  |  |
Fake-news Sharers vs. Fact-check Sharers | 0.32 | 0.00 | 0.22 | 0.00
Fake-news Sharers vs. Random Sample | 0.64 | 0.00 | 0.81 | 0.00
Neuroticism |  |  |
Fake-news Sharers vs. Fact-check Sharers | 0.15 | 0.00 | 0.24 | 0.00
Fake-news Sharers vs. Random Sample | 0.35 | 0.00 | 0.13 | 0.00
Agreeableness |  |  |
Fake-news Sharers vs. Fact-check Sharers | 0.29 | 0.00 | 0.20 | 0.00
Fake-news Sharers vs. Random Sample | 0.56 | 0.00 | 0.59 | 0.00

## Web Appendix J - Assessing the role of content

To analyze the article-user matching hypothesis we first assess for the fake-
news articles in our sample their textual profile to compare it to the textual
profile of fake-news and non-fake-news sharers. To assess the text of articles
in our Snopes sample we use waybackmachine as many articles in our sample were
no longer available. Of the 66 articles used, we could not find an archive of
the text for nine. Our articles span various misinformation categories within
Snopes, with ”Junk News” being the most represented (28 articles), followed by
politics (9 articles), uncategorized (4), science (3), and several with two
articles (media matters, fauxtography, and entertainment) or just one article
(humor, viral phenomena, military, crime and hurricane Katrina). For the set
of 57 articles, we then created a textual profile for each of the articles.

To do so, we assess all 79 LIWC dimensions (excluding word count, words per
sentence, and punctuation). We then compute for each LIWC dimension the
average value across the 57 articles. This creates a vector of 79 attributes,
one for each LIWC dimension that reflects the average value of all fake-news
articles. We can then compare this vector of the average linguistic profile of
all fake-news articles to the same individual vector of each user in our
sample. To do so we compute the Euclidean distance between the fake-news
article LIWC vector and each user’s LIWC vector. We then average the distance
across all users in each group (fake-news sharers vs. random social media
users vs. matched sample) and compare the group differences. Figure WJ-1 shows
the process of creating the vectors representing the average fake-news article
and the computation for the Euclidean distance of the linguistic profile of
the fake-news articles and the three user groups (fake-news sharers, random
and matched group).

Figure WJ-1: Similarity Calculation Fake-News Articles and Fake-News Users’
Text

## Web Appendix K - Political vs. Non-Political Fake-News Sharers

Table WK1: Political vs. Non Political Fake News | No Political | Political | t-value | Random | t-value | Matched | Fact
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| Fake News | Fake News | (p-value) | Group | (p-value) | Group | Checkers
| Sharers (1) | Sharers (2) | 1 vs. 2 | (3) | 3 vs. 2 |  |
Word Count | 21423.407 | 20559.312 | 0.826 ( 0.410 ) | 18401.074 | 7.809 ( 0.000 ) | 22328.980 | 23477.387
Analytic | 80.425 | 82.245 | -1.732 ( 0.085 ) | 69.411 | 20.724 ( 0.000 ) | 75.493 | 76.995
Clout | 69.600 | 73.290 | -5.141 ( 0.000 ) | 63.849 | 13.405 ( 0.000 ) | 66.450 | 69.547
Authentic | 26.672 | 19.344 | 6.032 ( 0.000 ) | 42.021 | -24.844 ( 0.000 ) | 37.226 | 22.447
Emotional Tone | 52.912 | 39.025 | 5.839 ( 0.000 ) | 71.868 | -22.100 ( 0.000 ) | 71.198 | 47.859
Words $>$ 6 letters | 23.989 | 25.852 | -4.983 ( 0.000 ) | 20.866 | 17.529 ( 0.000 ) | 22.279 | 24.552
Dictionary | 71.998 | 69.364 | 5.513 ( 0.000 ) | 75.331 | -14.511 ( 0.000 ) | 73.861 | 71.562
Function Words | 39.186 | 37.932 | 2.801 ( 0.006 ) | 41.335 | -10.777 ( 0.000 ) | 40.323 | 40.416
Pronoun | 10.198 | 9.387 | 3.051 ( 0.003 ) | 12.597 | -20.187 ( 0.000 ) | 11.381 | 10.825
Personal Pronouns | 6.588 | 6.012 | 3.124 ( 0.002 ) | 8.893 | -24.549 ( 0.000 ) | 7.773 | 6.908
1st Person Singluar | 2.703 | 1.817 | 7.864 ( 0.000 ) | 4.752 | -26.804 ( 0.000 ) | 3.814 | 2.709
1st Person Plural | 0.654 | 0.709 | -1.887 ( 0.061 ) | 0.670 | -1.028 ( 0.304 ) | 0.702 | 0.678
2nd Person | 1.759 | 1.664 | 1.132 ( 0.259 ) | 2.440 | -18.089 ( 0.000 ) | 2.194 | 1.840
3rd Personl Singular | 0.897 | 1.162 | -4.980 ( 0.000 ) | 0.609 | 16.710 ( 0.000 ) | 0.612 | 1.037
3rd Person Plural | 0.575 | 0.661 | -2.482 ( 0.014 ) | 0.428 | 15.025 ( 0.000 ) | 0.457 | 0.644
Impersonal Pronouns | 3.605 | 3.370 | 2.287 ( 0.023 ) | 3.698 | -2.437 ( 0.015 ) | 3.603 | 3.912
Articles | 5.223 | 4.842 | 3.837 ( 0.000 ) | 4.750 | 11.009 ( 0.000 ) | 5.059 | 5.295
Prepositions | 11.608 | 11.937 | -1.726 ( 0.086 ) | 10.712 | 11.878 ( 0.000 ) | 11.187 | 11.194
Auxiliary Verbs | 5.713 | 5.684 | 0.216 ( 0.829 ) | 6.125 | -7.686 ( 0.000 ) | 5.872 | 6.122
Adverbs | 3.731 | 3.518 | 2.420 ( 0.016 ) | 4.424 | -16.058 ( 0.000 ) | 4.134 | 3.985
Conjunctions | 3.535 | 3.299 | 2.859 ( 0.005 ) | 3.814 | -7.704 ( 0.000 ) | 3.685 | 3.838
Negate | 0.892 | 0.944 | -1.601 ( 0.111 ) | 0.940 | -3.484 ( 0.000 ) | 0.852 | 1.007
Verbs | 12.263 | 11.892 | 1.947 ( 0.053 ) | 13.520 | -14.631 ( 0.000 ) | 12.860 | 12.620
Adjectives | 4.418 | 4.145 | 3.857 ( 0.000 ) | 4.517 | -2.965 ( 0.003 ) | 4.556 | 4.155
Compare | 1.724 | 1.661 | 2.028 ( 0.044 ) | 1.702 | 1.037 ( 0.300 ) | 1.734 | 1.745
Interrogatives | 1.274 | 1.285 | -0.348 ( 0.728 ) | 1.288 | -0.992 ( 0.321 ) | 1.224 | 1.356
Number | 0.685 | 0.655 | 1.688 ( 0.093 ) | 0.657 | 2.494 ( 0.013 ) | 0.671 | 0.677
Quantifiers | 1.573 | 1.454 | 2.865 ( 0.005 ) | 1.661 | -4.299 ( 0.000 ) | 1.692 | 1.628
Affect | 6.471 | 6.311 | 1.245 ( 0.215 ) | 7.275 | -14.377 ( 0.000 ) | 6.829 | 6.263
Positive Emotions | 4.005 | 3.472 | 3.807 ( 0.000 ) | 5.096 | -20.800 ( 0.000 ) | 4.860 | 3.729
Negative Emotions | 2.418 | 2.793 | -4.558 ( 0.000 ) | 2.128 | 9.155 ( 0.000 ) | 1.917 | 2.483
Anxiety | 0.280 | 0.335 | -4.145 ( 0.000 ) | 0.217 | 13.457 ( 0.000 ) | 0.209 | 0.283
Anger | 0.992 | 1.234 | -4.664 ( 0.000 ) | 0.852 | 6.927 ( 0.000 ) | 0.736 | 1.033
Sadness | 0.419 | 0.426 | -0.571 ( 0.568 ) | 0.435 | -2.331 ( 0.020 ) | 0.385 | 0.424
Social | 8.759 | 8.930 | -1.035 ( 0.302 ) | 9.088 | -4.459 ( 0.000 ) | 8.765 | 8.978
Family | 0.409 | 0.350 | 3.244 ( 0.001 ) | 0.479 | -5.908 ( 0.000 ) | 0.423 | 0.360
Friend | 0.331 | 0.268 | 4.415 ( 0.000 ) | 0.454 | -11.814 ( 0.000 ) | 0.403 | 0.304
Female Words | 0.612 | 0.629 | -0.622 ( 0.534 ) | 0.580 | 2.293 ( 0.022 ) | 0.512 | 0.603
Male Words | 1.080 | 1.224 | -3.022 ( 0.003 ) | 0.893 | 10.417 ( 0.000 ) | 0.867 | 1.182
Cognitive Processes | 8.128 | 7.876 | 1.758 ( 0.080 ) | 8.342 | -3.037 ( 0.002 ) | 8.146 | 8.753
Insight | 1.693 | 1.659 | 1.013 ( 0.312 ) | 1.619 | 3.924 ( 0.000 ) | 1.636 | 1.798
Cause | 1.341 | 1.329 | 0.461 ( 0.645 ) | 1.281 | 4.020 ( 0.000 ) | 1.308 | 1.395
Discrepancies | 1.257 | 1.204 | 1.538 ( 0.126 ) | 1.382 | -7.910 ( 0.000 ) | 1.279 | 1.345
Tentative | 1.777 | 1.640 | 2.670 ( 0.008 ) | 1.886 | -4.972 ( 0.000 ) | 1.865 | 1.975
Certain | 1.315 | 1.336 | -0.504 ( 0.615 ) | 1.355 | -2.549 ( 0.011 ) | 1.292 | 1.367
Differentiation | 1.823 | 1.725 | 2.062 ( 0.040 ) | 1.873 | -2.167 ( 0.030 ) | 1.817 | 2.065
Perceptional Processes | 2.773 | 2.435 | 6.315 ( 0.000 ) | 2.838 | -1.870 ( 0.062 ) | 2.725 | 2.482
See | 1.424 | 1.207 | 5.073 ( 0.000 ) | 1.393 | 1.113 ( 0.266 ) | 1.360 | 1.191
Hear | 0.803 | 0.797 | 0.266 ( 0.790 ) | 0.746 | 3.637 ( 0.000 ) | 0.722 | 0.786
Feel | 0.410 | 0.334 | 6.254 ( 0.000 ) | 0.530 | -14.513 ( 0.000 ) | 0.476 | 0.380
Bio | 2.044 | 1.713 | 5.668 ( 0.000 ) | 2.616 | -14.992 ( 0.000 ) | 2.356 | 1.799
Body | 0.567 | 0.495 | 3.382 ( 0.001 ) | 0.764 | -14.195 ( 0.000 ) | 0.636 | 0.517
Health | 0.600 | 0.522 | 3.526 ( 0.000 ) | 0.592 | 0.485 ( 0.627 ) | 0.573 | 0.530
Sexual | 0.223 | 0.246 | -1.179 ( 0.240 ) | 0.232 | -1.081 ( 0.280 ) | 0.194 | 0.229
Ingestion | 0.571 | 0.402 | 5.318 ( 0.000 ) | 0.763 | -8.742 ( 0.000 ) | 0.762 | 0.452
Drives | 7.854 | 8.274 | -3.397 ( 0.001 ) | 7.616 | 4.265 ( 0.000 ) | 7.676 | 7.575
Affiliation | 2.158 | 2.010 | 3.035 ( 0.003 ) | 2.553 | -11.920 ( 0.000 ) | 2.490 | 2.026
Achieve | 1.358 | 1.365 | -0.106 ( 0.916 ) | 1.510 | -7.590 ( 0.000 ) | 1.574 | 1.283
Power | 3.262 | 3.966 | -6.068 ( 0.000 ) | 2.311 | 25.272 ( 0.000 ) | 2.468 | 3.180
Reward | 1.443 | 1.348 | 0.950 ( 0.343 ) | 1.905 | -22.906 ( 0.000 ) | 1.828 | 1.353
Risk | 0.607 | 0.677 | -3.358 ( 0.001 ) | 0.438 | 17.566 ( 0.000 ) | 0.452 | 0.619
Past Focus | 2.471 | 2.409 | 1.077 ( 0.283 ) | 2.463 | 0.287 ( 0.774 ) | 2.380 | 2.579
Present Focus | 8.420 | 8.080 | 2.255 ( 0.025 ) | 9.756 | -19.688 ( 0.000 ) | 9.233 | 8.574
Future Focus | 1.019 | 0.998 | 0.915 ( 0.361 ) | 1.312 | -21.390 ( 0.000 ) | 1.199 | 0.980
Relativity | 12.675 | 12.282 | 1.796 ( 0.074 ) | 13.325 | -7.134 ( 0.000 ) | 13.381 | 11.645
Motion | 1.702 | 1.644 | 1.591 ( 0.113 ) | 1.963 | -12.889 ( 0.000 ) | 1.899 | 1.552
Space | 6.479 | 6.689 | -1.304 ( 0.194 ) | 6.002 | 7.726 ( 0.000 ) | 6.312 | 6.005
Time | 4.622 | 4.066 | 5.594 ( 0.000 ) | 5.566 | -18.587 ( 0.000 ) | 5.355 | 4.200
Work | 2.662 | 3.001 | -3.677 ( 0.000 ) | 2.082 | 11.646 ( 0.000 ) | 2.430 | 2.611
Leisure | 2.064 | 1.582 | 4.036 ( 0.000 ) | 2.208 | -2.751 ( 0.006 ) | 2.165 | 1.595
Home | 0.399 | 0.377 | 1.225 ( 0.222 ) | 0.467 | -4.595 ( 0.000 ) | 0.460 | 0.349
Money | 0.968 | 1.048 | -1.787 ( 0.075 ) | 0.748 | 8.384 ( 0.000 ) | 0.917 | 0.920
Religion | 0.530 | 0.523 | 0.125 ( 0.901 ) | 0.446 | 3.412 ( 0.001 ) | 0.431 | 0.414
Death | 0.338 | 0.354 | -0.666 ( 0.506 ) | 0.181 | 21.210 ( 0.000 ) | 0.179 | 0.279
Informal | 1.929 | 1.626 | 3.812 ( 0.000 ) | 3.262 | -20.548 ( 0.000 ) | 2.636 | 1.865
Swear | 0.392 | 0.388 | 0.106 ( 0.916 ) | 0.683 | -12.519 ( 0.000 ) | 0.509 | 0.403
Netspeak | 0.971 | 0.748 | 5.364 ( 0.000 ) | 1.865 | -20.035 ( 0.000 ) | 1.453 | 0.853
Assent | 0.390 | 0.332 | 2.587 ( 0.010 ) | 0.571 | -12.644 ( 0.000 ) | 0.540 | 0.400
Nonfluencies | 0.221 | 0.188 | 2.467 ( 0.014 ) | 0.281 | -9.265 ( 0.000 ) | 0.262 | 0.254
Filler | 0.021 | 0.018 | 1.548 ( 0.123 ) | 0.039 | -13.928 ( 0.000 ) | 0.031 | 0.023
Openness | 0.620 | 0.622 | -0.354 ( 0.724 ) | 0.554 | 20.836 ( 0.000 ) | 0.570 | 0.623
Conscientuousness | 0.520 | 0.521 | -0.130 ( 0.897 ) | 0.539 | -6.862 ( 0.000 ) | 0.558 | 0.512
Extraversion | 0.416 | 0.404 | 1.641 ( 0.103 ) | 0.498 | -23.494 ( 0.000 ) | 0.475 | 0.396
Agreeableness | 0.448 | 0.403 | 6.749 ( 0.000 ) | 0.501 | -15.732 ( 0.000 ) | 0.502 | 0.426
Neuroticism | 0.419 | 0.441 | -3.435 ( 0.001 ) | 0.410 | 2.956 ( 0.003 ) | 0.392 | 0.439
Negative Low Arousal | 0.379 | 0.379 | -0.006 ( 0.996 ) | 0.430 | -8.464 ( 0.000 ) | 0.382 | 0.394
Negative High Arousal | 0.853 | 1.031 | -4.251 ( 0.000 ) | 0.859 | -0.340 ( 0.734 ) | 0.735 | 0.899
Positive Low Arousal | 1.498 | 1.223 | 6.230 ( 0.000 ) | 2.055 | -23.119 ( 0.000 ) | 1.861 | 1.422
Positive High Arousal | 0.847 | 0.642 | 5.484 ( 0.000 ) | 1.297 | -21.510 ( 0.000 ) | 1.164 | 0.711

## Web Appendix L - Additional BART details

### ROC curves and Youden Index

The ROC curve for the BART model with all variables is in Figure 1(d).

Figure WL-1: ROC Curves

(a) BART: Baseline Only (AUC=0.8946)

(b) BART: Baseline & Textual (AUC=0.9477)

(c) LR: Baseline Only (AUC=0.8462)

(d) LR: Baseline & Textual (AUC=0.9321)

Note: In each subfigure, in $X(Y,Z)$, $X$ denotes the in-sample threshold that
maximizes the ROC (Youden Index) while $Y$ denotes true-positive rate
(specificity) and $Z$ denotes false-positive rate (sensitivity).

### Post-hoc classification of Fact-check sharers

We trained our model predicting fake-news sharers against a specific group of
non-sharers of fake-news - random Twitter users. However, as our descriptive
analyses showed, not all non-sharers of fake-news are alike. In particular,
fact-check sharers may be difficult to distinguish from fake-news sharers due
to their (in some respects) similar socio-demographics, social media activity,
and even emotions. Our models did not use fact-check sharers for training or
validation. Therefore, it is important to ask: how likely is it that a model
trained to predict fake-news sharers using random Twitter users would
incorrectly assign the label of fake-news to fact-check sharers?

We used both cross-validated BART models to investigate how the models compare
in their classification of fact-check sharers. We predicted the probability of
each fact-check sharer being a fake-news sharer. The densities are presented
in Figure WL-2. For the model with only baseline variables, the median
predicted probability of a fact-check sharer sharing fake news is 24.31% (mean
= 30.34%), which can be considered a particularly harmful misprediction. In
contrast, the model with textual cues predicted a lower median probability for
a fact-check sharer to share fake-news at 15.85% (a reduction of 35%; mean =
25.22%). That is, the model with textual cues is better at labeling fact-check
sharers as non-sharers of fake-news.

Figure WL-2: Snopes dataset: Predictions of Fake-news sharing for Fact-check
Sharers Note: Median/Mean for Baseline model 0.2431/0.3034. Median/Mean for
Baseline + Textual cues: 0.1586/0.2522

## Web Appendix M - Study 3B: Moderated Mediation Analyses with Trait Anger

In the manuscript, we report that one’s trait anger moderates the relationship
between anger reduction and sharing through reducing the motivation to share
surprising news. In Table WM1, we present the moderation analyses whereby
trait anger moderates the effect of the anger reduction manipulation on each
of the five motivations.

Table WM1: Moderating Role of Trait Anger on the Effectiveness of Anger
Reduction

| Accurate | Surprising | Interesting | Aligned with Politics | Funny
---|---|---|---|---|---
| Est. | SE | p | Est. | SE | p | Est. | SE | p | Est. | SE | p | Est. | SE | p
Constant | 4.20 | 0.30 | 0.00 | 2.14 | 0.36 | 0.00 | 3.49 | 0.30 | 0.00 | 2.82 | 0.38 | 0.00 | 3.30 | 0.40 | 0.00
Reduced Anger | 0.37 | 0.23 | 0.11 | 0.30 | 0.28 | 0.27 | 0.40 | 0.23 | 0.09 | 0.24 | 0.30 | 0.41 | -0.05 | 0.31 | 0.86
Trait Anger | -0.03 | 0.08 | 0.69 | 0.39 | 0.10 | 0.00 | 0.13 | 0.08 | 0.10 | 0.32 | 0.10 | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.11 | 0.80
Interaction | -0.14 | 0.11 | 0.20 | -0.27 | 0.13 | 0.04 | -0.17 | 0.11 | 0.11 | -0.14 | 0.14 | 0.33 | 0.04 | 0.15 | 0.79
Religiosity | -0.02 | 0.04 | 0.65 | 0.08 | 0.05 | 0.09 | 0.01 | 0.04 | 0.86 | 0.06 | 0.05 | 0.23 | 0.02 | 0.05 | 0.75
Age | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.99 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.31 | -0.01 | 0.01 | 0.13 | -0.01 | 0.01 | 0.41
Gender: Male | -0.13 | 0.10 | 0.21 | -0.05 | 0.12 | 0.67 | -0.03 | 0.10 | 0.80 | -0.33 | 0.13 | 0.01 | -0.02 | 0.14 | 0.88
Race: AAPI | -0.05 | 0.17 | 0.75 | 0.48 | 0.20 | 0.02 | -0.17 | 0.17 | 0.30 | -0.31 | 0.21 | 0.16 | 0.19 | 0.22 | 0.40
Race: Black | -0.10 | 0.15 | 0.53 | 0.45 | 0.19 | 0.02 | 0.20 | 0.16 | 0.20 | -0.19 | 0.20 | 0.34 | 0.21 | 0.21 | 0.31
Race: Hispanic | -0.19 | 0.19 | 0.31 | 0.34 | 0.23 | 0.14 | 0.04 | 0.19 | 0.85 | -0.08 | 0.24 | 0.75 | 0.05 | 0.25 | 0.84
Democrat | 0.06 | 0.14 | 0.70 | -0.24 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.01 | 0.15 | 0.94 | -0.02 | 0.19 | 0.93 | -0.08 | 0.19 | 0.68
Independent | 0.03 | 0.15 | 0.85 | -0.12 | 0.18 | 0.51 | 0.15 | 0.15 | 0.33 | -0.45 | 0.19 | 0.02 | -0.01 | 0.20 | 0.97

We find that trait anger moderates the effect of the anger reduction
manipulation on the motivation to be surprising ($B=-.27,SE=.13,p<.05$) and
some evidence pointing to a similar effect on the desire to share news that
are interesting. As none of the variables have been mean-centered or
standardized and there’s an interaction term, the effects of reduced anger are
the simple effect of the manipulation when trait anger is at zero. To aid
interpretation, in the Figure WM-1 we show how trait anger moderates the
effect of the manipulation on the desire to share news to be surprising.

Figure WM-1: Moderating Effect of Trait Anger

We see among participants who received the anger reduction manipulation, the
relationship between trait anger and desire to be surprising is much weaker
($B=0.10,SE=.08,p=.10$) such that the bigger effect of the anger reduction
manipulation on motivation to be surprising occurs for those who have higher
trait anger. To illustrate, we find that the effect of the anger reduction
manipulation on reducing the motivation to be surprising was for those who had
a value of trait anger of at least 2 out of 5 ($B=-.23,SE=.12,p=.06$)

Once we look at whether trait anger moderates the effect of reducing anger on
average sharing intentions ($\omega=-0.0595,90\%CI=[-.1192,-.0059]$),
believed-true shared ($\omega=-0.1003,90\%CI=[-.2129,-.0071]$) and believed-
false shared ($\omega=-0.0776,90\%CI=[-.1613,-.0065]$) through the desire to
share surprising news, we find evidence of moderated mediation.

## Web Appendix N - Study 4 Exclusions and Comparison to Snopes Sample

Below we describe the exclusions of participants from our Qualtrics study in
detail and also run multiple sample comparisons on the key variables.

Of the 1,947 participants that took the Qualtrics survey, all indicated that
they frequently post on social media. 1,799 participants indicated that they
had not received the AstraZeneca vaccine and 148 participants chose the option
“not sure/do not prefer to say”. Thus, no participant indicated to have
received the AstraZeneca vaccine. All participants indicated that they had
either a public or private Twitter account. In total, of the 1,947
participants, no participant was excluded from the survey due to screener
questions.

Of the 1,947 participants, 1,301 participants refused to provide their Twitter
credentials using the Twitter API. Another possibility for not signing up for
our API could be that they indicated owning a Twitter account during the
screener question, but actually did not have a Twitter account. We compare the
sample of participants that authenticated themselves via the Twitter API to
those participants who did not authenticate themselves regarding the
demographic information that we assessed from all 1,947 participants before
the authentication. Table WN1 below shows the mean differences across the four
demographics between the two participant samples. The results of the
comparison show no significant differences between the two samples in terms of
gender and age. Regarding political affiliation, we see that participants who
authenticated their Twitter account via the API are slightly less conservative
on average. They also tend to be also slightly more religious.

Table WN1: Demographics Participants that Authenticated their Twitter Account vs. Not Authenticated their Twitter Account | Authenticated | Not authenticated |
---|---|---|---
| via API (n=646) | via API (n=1,301) | P-value
Gender |  | Male: 264
---
Female: 381
Other: 1
Prefer not to answer: 0
| Male: 460
---
Female: 808
Other: 2
Prefer not to answer: 1
0.1572
Age | 43.47 | 42.63 | 0.2356
| Political Affiliation
---
(1 = very liberal;
5 = very conservative)
3.35 | 3.51 | 0.0369
| Religion
---
(1 = very liberal;
5 = very conservative)
3 | 2.77 | 0.0004

From the remaining 646 participants that authenticated their Twitter account,
Qualtrics flagged 87 participants who failed 2 or more attention checks or
were marked by Qualtrics as speedsters. An additional 4 participants were
removed whose answers to the last question about the study’s purpose were
fully unrelated to the study they had taken. This led to a sample of 555
participants.

From the 555 participants of whom we collected all tweets, we removed in line
with our restrictions of the Snopes sample, participants who have less than
100 words to extract textual cues meaningfully. This leads to the exclusion of
74 participants and a final sample of 481 participants.

For 171 users gender guesser was not able to predict the gender. The algorithm
classified these participants as “unknown”. For these users, we thus imputed
the gender with the gender indicated in the survey. Our final sample thus
includes 480 participants in total, of which 38 participants have a protected
profile. The average duration of the survey was 623 seconds (sd = 435, min =
208, max = 4,567).

Finally, we compare the final sample of Twitter users from our field
experiment to the fake-news sharers and the random sample of Twitter users in
our Snopes study (see Table WN2). Specifically, we compare the two samples’
different characteristics accessed from their text (socio-demographics, media
followership, fake and act-check outlet followership, and textual cues
assessed via LIWC). Table LABEL:tab:Results_TwitterFieldStudy_Snopes below
demonstrate that there exist differences in terms of demographics between the
participants of the field study and the random group, but we find no
systematic differences concerning our focal variables - the textual cues
extracted from the users’ tweets. We find that Twitter users in our field
experiment tend to be about three years older on average, have a higher
propensity to be male, follow fewer Twitter accounts and have fewer friends.
We find no difference in the followership of fake and fact-news outlets
between the survey participants and the random sample. Finally, for our key
variables the textual cues assessed via LIWC, we replicate the mean
differences between the survey participants and the fake-news sharer group
which we found between the fake-news sharers and the random sample.

Table WN2: Study 4 vs. Random Group and Fake-Sharers Snopes’ Sample | Mean/Prop | Mean/Prop | D/H | t/z-value | p-value | Mean | D/H | t/z-value | p-value
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| Survey | Random |  |  |  | Fake |  |  |
Word Count | 2055.472 | 18401.074 | 1.692 | -62.496 | 0.000 | 21280.361 | 1.870 | -67.237 | 0.000
Analytic | 74.715 | 69.411 | 0.301 | 6.137 | 0.000 | 80.682 | 0.436 | -7.314 | 0.000
Clout | 73.871 | 63.849 | 0.676 | 12.795 | 0.000 | 70.011 | 0.339 | 5.190 | 0.000
Authentic | 26.354 | 42.021 | 0.819 | -16.329 | 0.000 | 25.840 | 0.030 | 0.550 | 0.583
Emotional Tone | 68.977 | 71.868 | 0.120 | -2.096 | 0.036 | 51.260 | 0.656 | 12.444 | 0.000
Words $>$ 6 letters | 23.167 | 20.866 | 0.427 | 7.803 | 0.000 | 24.198 | 0.197 | -3.504 | 0.000
Dictionary | 72.790 | 75.331 | 0.349 | -5.803 | 0.000 | 71.690 | 0.154 | 2.515 | 0.012
Function Words | 38.722 | 41.335 | 0.415 | -6.739 | 0.000 | 39.017 | 0.047 | -0.760 | 0.448
Pronoun | 11.326 | 12.597 | 0.346 | -6.708 | 0.000 | 10.094 | 0.369 | 6.624 | 0.000
Personal Pronouns | 7.806 | 8.893 | 0.359 | -7.292 | 0.000 | 6.512 | 0.523 | 9.090 | 0.000
1st Person Singular | 3.691 | 4.752 | 0.416 | -8.738 | 0.000 | 2.600 | 0.573 | 9.635 | 0.000
1st Person Plural | 0.687 | 0.670 | 0.030 | 0.574 | 0.566 | 0.660 | 0.063 | 0.964 | 0.335
2nd Person | 2.226 | 2.440 | 0.170 | -3.164 | 0.002 | 1.743 | 0.462 | 7.418 | 0.000
3rd Person Singular | 0.674 | 0.609 | 0.127 | 1.858 | 0.064 | 0.924 | 0.414 | -6.923 | 0.000
3rd Person Plural | 0.528 | 0.428 | 0.323 | 4.232 | 0.000 | 0.584 | 0.150 | -2.321 | 0.021
Impersonal Pronouns | 3.517 | 3.698 | 0.160 | -2.615 | 0.009 | 3.576 | 0.048 | -0.839 | 0.402
Articles | 4.669 | 4.750 | 0.060 | -1.040 | 0.299 | 5.175 | 0.388 | -6.523 | 0.000
Prepositions | 10.491 | 10.712 | 0.095 | -1.662 | 0.097 | 11.648 | 0.509 | -8.725 | 0.000
Auxiliary Verbs | 5.608 | 6.125 | 0.303 | -4.843 | 0.000 | 5.703 | 0.056 | -0.889 | 0.374
Adverbs | 3.607 | 4.424 | 0.611 | -10.897 | 0.000 | 3.702 | 0.075 | -1.277 | 0.202
Conjunctions | 3.867 | 3.814 | 0.045 | 0.696 | 0.486 | 3.507 | 0.303 | 4.653 | 0.000
Negate | 0.830 | 0.940 | 0.228 | -3.567 | 0.000 | 0.896 | 0.147 | -2.154 | 0.032
Verbs | 12.248 | 13.520 | 0.465 | -8.016 | 0.000 | 12.215 | 0.013 | 0.214 | 0.830
Adjectives | 4.071 | 4.517 | 0.395 | -5.940 | 0.000 | 4.390 | 0.288 | -4.254 | 0.000
Compare | 1.488 | 1.702 | 0.302 | -5.139 | 0.000 | 1.719 | 0.375 | -5.679 | 0.000
Interrogatives | 1.157 | 1.288 | 0.250 | -3.845 | 0.000 | 1.273 | 0.241 | -3.442 | 0.001
Number | 0.652 | 0.657 | 0.011 | -0.155 | 0.877 | 0.682 | 0.075 | -0.890 | 0.374
Quantifiers | 1.643 | 1.661 | 0.026 | -0.438 | 0.662 | 1.560 | 0.137 | 2.093 | 0.037
Affect | 6.572 | 7.275 | 0.366 | -6.138 | 0.000 | 6.452 | 0.071 | 1.069 | 0.286
Positive Emotions | 4.830 | 5.096 | 0.148 | -2.302 | 0.022 | 3.941 | 0.520 | 7.748 | 0.000
Negative Emotions | 1.697 | 2.128 | 0.418 | -7.841 | 0.000 | 2.464 | 0.846 | -14.312 | 0.000
Anxiety | 0.197 | 0.217 | 0.126 | -1.702 | 0.089 | 0.286 | 0.509 | -7.466 | 0.000
Anger | 0.700 | 0.852 | 0.222 | -4.277 | 0.000 | 1.021 | 0.572 | -9.449 | 0.000
Sadness | 0.328 | 0.435 | 0.445 | -7.259 | 0.000 | 0.421 | 0.416 | -6.369 | 0.000
Social | 10.945 | 9.088 | 0.711 | 11.061 | 0.000 | 8.775 | 0.914 | 13.102 | 0.000
Family | 0.449 | 0.479 | 0.072 | -1.308 | 0.191 | 0.402 | 0.145 | 2.160 | 0.031
Friend | 0.360 | 0.454 | 0.243 | -4.074 | 0.000 | 0.325 | 0.115 | 1.569 | 0.117
Female Words | 0.273 | 0.580 | 0.776 | -17.987 | 0.000 | 0.615 | 0.952 | -20.533 | 0.000
Male Words | 0.862 | 0.893 | 0.051 | -0.786 | 0.432 | 1.094 | 0.391 | -5.899 | 0.000
Cognitive Processes | 7.806 | 8.342 | 0.235 | -3.897 | 0.000 | 8.096 | 0.134 | -2.128 | 0.034
Insight | 1.422 | 1.619 | 0.302 | -4.646 | 0.000 | 1.688 | 0.439 | -6.347 | 0.000
Cause | 1.309 | 1.281 | 0.046 | 0.624 | 0.533 | 1.340 | 0.055 | -0.680 | 0.497
Discrepancies | 1.263 | 1.382 | 0.210 | -3.123 | 0.002 | 1.251 | 0.023 | 0.329 | 0.742
Tentative | 1.863 | 1.886 | 0.032 | -0.506 | 0.613 | 1.761 | 0.143 | 2.229 | 0.026
Certain | 1.303 | 1.355 | 0.097 | -1.380 | 0.168 | 1.316 | 0.024 | -0.343 | 0.732
Differentiation | 1.701 | 1.873 | 0.230 | -3.585 | 0.000 | 1.811 | 0.148 | -2.293 | 0.022
Perceptional Processes | 2.521 | 2.838 | 0.281 | -4.449 | 0.000 | 2.737 | 0.197 | -3.042 | 0.002
See | 1.235 | 1.393 | 0.184 | -3.357 | 0.001 | 1.402 | 0.212 | -3.593 | 0.000
Hear | 0.704 | 0.746 | 0.076 | -1.058 | 0.290 | 0.802 | 0.178 | -2.470 | 0.014
Feel | 0.397 | 0.530 | 0.528 | -8.291 | 0.000 | 0.401 | 0.015 | -0.243 | 0.808
Bio | 2.194 | 2.616 | 0.294 | -4.728 | 0.000 | 2.010 | 0.159 | 2.122 | 0.034
Body | 0.621 | 0.764 | 0.233 | -3.317 | 0.001 | 0.559 | 0.126 | 1.476 | 0.141
Health | 0.539 | 0.592 | 0.103 | -1.997 | 0.046 | 0.593 | 0.125 | -2.100 | 0.036
Sexual | 0.264 | 0.232 | 0.072 | 0.890 | 0.374 | 0.226 | 0.094 | 1.075 | 0.283
Ingestion | 0.629 | 0.763 | 0.159 | -2.507 | 0.012 | 0.554 | 0.111 | 1.449 | 0.148
Drives | 8.238 | 7.616 | 0.318 | 4.929 | 0.000 | 7.907 | 0.184 | 2.653 | 0.008
Affiliation | 2.764 | 2.553 | 0.173 | 2.923 | 0.004 | 2.143 | 0.648 | 8.958 | 0.000
Achieve | 1.880 | 1.510 | 0.402 | 5.403 | 0.000 | 1.358 | 0.647 | 7.731 | 0.000
Power | 2.821 | 2.311 | 0.479 | 7.177 | 0.000 | 3.345 | 0.399 | -7.062 | 0.000
Reward | 2.207 | 1.905 | 0.320 | 3.966 | 0.000 | 1.430 | 0.824 | 10.196 | 0.000
Risk | 0.457 | 0.438 | 0.066 | 0.971 | 0.332 | 0.616 | 0.485 | -8.094 | 0.000
Past Focus | 2.351 | 2.463 | 0.122 | -1.897 | 0.058 | 2.465 | 0.132 | -1.953 | 0.051
Present Focus | 8.774 | 9.756 | 0.455 | -7.898 | 0.000 | 8.376 | 0.196 | 3.231 | 0.001
Future Focus | 1.046 | 1.312 | 0.513 | -7.988 | 0.000 | 1.015 | 0.072 | 0.952 | 0.341
Relativity | 11.595 | 13.325 | 0.643 | -11.485 | 0.000 | 12.637 | 0.381 | -6.860 | 0.000
Motion | 1.893 | 1.963 | 0.094 | -1.381 | 0.168 | 1.695 | 0.290 | 3.964 | 0.000
Space | 5.359 | 6.002 | 0.366 | -6.548 | 0.000 | 6.507 | 0.609 | -11.444 | 0.000
Time | 4.539 | 5.566 | 0.643 | -10.785 | 0.000 | 4.562 | 0.014 | -0.234 | 0.815
Work | 2.056 | 2.082 | 0.017 | -0.313 | 0.754 | 2.702 | 0.463 | -7.834 | 0.000
Leisure | 2.087 | 2.208 | 0.076 | -1.199 | 0.231 | 2.013 | 0.044 | 0.728 | 0.467
Home | 0.487 | 0.467 | 0.034 | 0.589 | 0.556 | 0.397 | 0.224 | 2.757 | 0.006
Money | 1.429 | 0.748 | 0.648 | 8.698 | 0.000 | 0.977 | 0.458 | 5.821 | 0.000
Religion | 0.424 | 0.446 | 0.030 | -0.517 | 0.605 | 0.528 | 0.139 | -2.388 | 0.017
Death | 0.239 | 0.181 | 0.288 | 3.703 | 0.000 | 0.341 | 0.367 | -6.181 | 0.000
Informal | 4.243 | 3.262 | 0.381 | 6.257 | 0.000 | 1.895 | 1.249 | 15.683 | 0.000
| Mean/Prop | Mean/Prop | D/H | t/z-value | p-value | Mean/Prop | D | t/z-value | p-value
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
| Survey | Random |  |  |  | Fake |  |  |
Swear | 0.490 | 0.683 | 0.216 | -3.993 | 0.000 | 0.392 | 0.166 | 2.164 | 0.031
Netspeak | 3.239 | 1.865 | 0.697 | 10.221 | 0.000 | 0.949 | 1.535 | 17.621 | 0.000
Assent | 2.327 | 0.571 | 1.539 | 16.392 | 0.000 | 0.382 | 1.709 | 18.180 | 0.000
Nonfluencies | 0.167 | 0.281 | 0.561 | -10.471 | 0.000 | 0.216 | 0.267 | -4.620 | 0.000
Filler | 0.023 | 0.039 | 0.316 | -5.046 | 0.000 | 0.020 | 0.076 | 1.009 | 0.314
Openness | 0.558 | 0.554 | 0.035 | 0.587 | 0.558 | 0.620 | 0.675 | -9.897 | 0.000
Conscientiousness | 0.548 | 0.539 | 0.091 | 1.756 | 0.080 | 0.520 | 0.379 | 5.926 | 0.000
Extraversion | 0.464 | 0.498 | 0.280 | -4.978 | 0.000 | 0.414 | 0.503 | 7.597 | 0.000
Agreeableness | 0.463 | 0.501 | 0.344 | -6.307 | 0.000 | 0.443 | 0.215 | 3.571 | 0.000
Neuroticism | 0.396 | 0.410 | 0.122 | -2.135 | 0.033 | 0.421 | 0.279 | -4.117 | 0.000
Age | 33.868 | 30.417 | 0.516 | 9.225 | 0.000 | 32.596 | 0.236 | 3.535 | 0.000
Gender (Female) | 0.559 | 0.443 | 0.257 | 20.046 | 0.000 | 0.367 | 0.413 | 56.669 | 0.000
DEM | 0.162 | 0.113 | 0.144 | 8.198 | 0.004 | 0.169 | 0.019 | 0.084 | 0.772
GOP | 0.146 | 0.161 | 0.043 | 0.573 | 0.449 | 0.340 | 0.462 | 67.072 | 0.000
DEM & GOP | 0.058 | 0.059 | 0.002 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 0.144 | 0.290 | 24.306 | 0.000
No Party Followed | 0.634 | 0.668 | 0.070 | 1.756 | 0.185 | 0.347 | 0.582 | 126.642 | 0.000
Salon | 0.015 | 0.014 | 0.002 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 0.111 | 0.438 | 41.661 | 0.000
Wikileaks | 0.025 | 0.051 | 0.136 | 5.200 | 0.023 | 0.277 | 0.792 | 137.157 | 0.000
Dailybeast | 0.033 | 0.027 | 0.034 | 0.274 | 0.601 | 0.153 | 0.438 | 47.848 | 0.000
New Yorker | 0.048 | 0.087 | 0.157 | 7.454 | 0.006 | 0.198 | 0.481 | 60.440 | 0.000
Economist | 0.025 | 0.059 | 0.173 | 8.209 | 0.004 | 0.164 | 0.518 | 61.871 | 0.000
Wall Street Journal | 0.035 | 0.105 | 0.283 | 21.831 | 0.000 | 0.247 | 0.663 | 103.843 | 0.000