Mistakenly misinformed or intentionally deceived? Mis- and Disinformation perceptions on the Russian War in Ukraine among citizens in 19 countries

• Main Authors: Michael Hameleers, Marina Tulin, Claes de Vreese, Toril Aalberg, Ana Sofia Cardenal, Nicoleta Corbu, Patrick van Erkel, Frank Esser, Luisa Gehle, Denis Halagiera, David Hopmann, Karolina Koc-Michalska, Jörg Matthes, Christine Meltzer, Sabina Mihelj, Christian Schemer, Tamir Sheafer, Sergio Splendore, James Stanyr, Agnieszka Stepinska, Vaclav Stetka, Jesper Strömbäck, Ludovic Terren, Yannis Theocharis, Alon Zoizner
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Credibility; Disinformation; Media trust; Misinformation; Political science; Trustworthiness

In information environments characterized by institutional distrust, fragmentation and the widespread dissemination of conspiracies and disinformation, citizens perceive misinformation as a salient and threatening issue. Especially amidst disruptive events and crises, news users are likely to believe that information is inaccurate or deceptive. Using an original 19-country comparative survey study across diverse regions in the world (N = 19,037), we find that news users are likely to regard information on the Russian war in Ukraine as false. They are more likely to attribute false information to deliberative deception than to a lack of access to the war area or inaccurate expert knowledge. Russian sources are substantially more likely to be blamed for falsehoods than Ukrainian or Western sources – but these attribution biases depend on a country's position on the war. Our findings reveal that people mostly believe that falsehoods are intended to deceive them, and selectively associate misinformation with the opposed camp.