Combatting rumors around the French election: The memorability and effectiveness of fact-checking articles

Across four studies, we examined the effectiveness of misinformation debunks created by CrossCheck France during the 2017 French election. We measured both memory for the article and belief in the debunked rumor. In both US and French samples, reading the debunk decreased belief in the false information, even one week later. However, the debunks were much more effective in the US sample, who lacked relevant prior knowledge and political beliefs. Participants failed to remember many of the details from the article, but retrieval practice was beneficial in reducing forgetting over a one-week delay. We saw no difference in debunk efficacy based on the type of headline (question vs negation) or the number of newsroom logos present around the article (one, four, or seven). In addition, informative design features such as an icon identifying the type of misinformation debunked were ignored by readers. Overall, misinformation debunks can be effective at reducing belief in false information, but readers tend to forget the details and ignore peripheral information.