Distributed Discovery of News and Perceived Misinformation Exposure: A Cross-Continent Application of the Resilience to Online Disinformation Framework

Abstract

Perceived misinformation exposure (PME) among citizens is a global phenomenon and a normative concern because it can lead to reduced trust and faith in democratic institutions, actors, and processes. Using secondary data from multiple sources, this study analyzed individuals’ online news habits across forty-six countries in six continents (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia: N = 91,061) and country-level factors from the resilience to online disinformation framework that shape the relationship between distributed discovery of news and PME. Multilevel analyses showed that increased incidental news exposure and searching for news online at the individual level and news sharing on social media at the country level increased PME while aggregate media trust reduced PME. Cross-level interactions also indicated that higher levels of public service media in a country attenuated the relationship between online news search and PME, exhibiting what we call soft resilience. This study demonstrates the theoretical utility of the resilience to disinformation framework and certain country-level factors that can affect the individual-level dynamics of news consumption and PME.