Abstract
The interference of so-called social bots in election campaigns has led to public outcries and heavy news coverage about the danger of social bots all over the world. Learning about social bots from news coverage may crucially influence media users' fears from social bots and may undermine trust in online political processes altogether. These negative societal effects may be prevented by mass-mediated information to support literacy about social bots. Using two separate laboratory experiments, we investigated whether mass-mediated textual (Study 1) or audiovisual (Study 2) information to support literacy about social bots reduced perceived threats from bots. Across both studies, we found that news reports about social bots in election campaigns, which do not convey information to support literacy, increased news consumers’ perceived threats for their online political information behavior. In contrast, when news reports included information to support literacy about social bots, these threats were reduced, which could be explained by an increase of perceived behavioral control. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
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