🌅 Today’s stat: 0.61

SOURCE

Törnberg and Chueri (2025)

WHAT TO KNOW

• A new study of 32 million tweets posted by 8,200 lawmakers in 26 countries (including the U.S. and U.K.) over the past 6 years found far-right populists are significantly more likely to spread misinformation on social media than politicians from mainstream or far-left political parties. The study is the first large-scale, cross-national analysis of how political ideology influences the dissemination of misinformation.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The researchers analyzed the massive dataset to come up with an aggregate “factuality score” for each politician and party, finding far-right populism is “the strongest indicator for the propensity to spread misinformation,” with politicians from center-right, center-left, and far-left parties “not linked” to the practice. The study also found misinformation isn’t a universal or general condition of today’s media ecosystem, but a specific “political strategy” associated with far-right populists who use misinformation to gain significant electoral advantages, often at the expense of mainstream political parties.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• The study points to far-right populists’ “particular relationship” with so-called “alternative media,” which tends to be unrestrained by journalistic integrity and standards, allowing far-right politicians to recreate reality inside echo chambers that simply reinforce their views. The researchers found far-right populist movements are “exploiting declining confidence in official information and established democratic institutions,” using misinformation to undermine institutional legitimacy and destabilize mainstream politics.