How anti-corruption messages can increase corruption and clickbait attracts less educated citizens

Anti-corruption messages may accidentally increase corruption by normalizing it

Recent studies tested the effects of anti-corruption messages in Costa Rica, South Africa, and Nigeria. They found that messages raising awareness about corruption do not reduce, and can increase, corrupt behavior. A message showing that corruption is becoming less common over time, however, decreased corrupt behavior. These studies show that corruption messaging can backfire by normalizing corruption and demonstrate a more effective messaging strategy.

Some citizens prefer clickbait media because they trust it more than traditional media

One method of correcting misinformation is to encourage citizens to seek out high-quality information. A new experimental study in Italy encouraged citizens to seek out high-quality information by providing a financial incentive for correct answers about a topic. The incentive for correct answers made older and less educated citizens more likely to read an article with a clickbait headline and less likely to read a high-quality news source. This study suggests that some citizens prefer clickbait because they believe it is more accurate than other news sources. This finding complicates efforts to counter misinformation because the type of citizen most likely to believe misinformation is least likely to trust the high-quality information sources that could dispel misinformation.