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Dixon, Grad Students Publish Study Showing Misinformation Silences Truth-Tellers

November 7, 2025

Dixon, Grad Students Publish Study Showing Misinformation Silences Truth-Tellers

Graham Dixon headshot

Associate Professor Graham Dixon and his graduate students Katie Snelling, a current Ph.D student, and 2024 graduate Samuel Bashian recently published an article in the Journal of Media Psychology for the special issue on “Information Integrity in the Digital Age.”

The study found that misinformation does more than spread falsehoods, it actively discourages the online engagement needed to counter it. The researchers also discovered that even when people know their accurate opinion is in the majority, encountering a loud, misinformed minority makes them expect conflict, which can discourage them from engaging online.

These insights have broader implications for understanding online self-silencing and can help develop strategies to encourage more inclusive, representative online discussions that push back against extreme, hateful and false information.