Federal Research Cuts Threaten Americans' Defenses Against Misinformation

Strategic Insights -

The Trump administration's cancellation of grants supporting research on misinformation and disinformation is a step in the opposite direction of what Americans want, with 95% believing misleading narratives are a problem. The National Science Foundation canceled hundreds of grants that supported research on this topic following President Donald Trump's executive order on "ending federal censorship." Without research, the ability to combat misleading narratives will be impaired.

Key Takeaways:

  • The majority of Americans (95%) believe that misinformation's misleading narratives are a problem.
  • 75% of conspiracy theories shared on Trump's platform, Truth Social, come from his account, despite the platform's ban on certain content.
  • Research shows that conservatives are more susceptible to misinformation than liberals, with recent studies finding that conservative posts are more likely to share false content.
  • The "censorship industrial complex" hearings held by the House Foreign Affairs South and Central Asia Subcommittee have been based on the premise that misleading narrative research is part of the alleged "censorship industrial complex," but there is no evidence to support this assertion.
  • Fact-checkers are rated the most effective in reducing the transmission of misleading content, and there is little bias in choice of who is fact-checked.
  • Perceptions of bias in fact-checking may be due to the perception that fact-checkers are biased against conservative voices, but research shows that prominent and prolific speakers get checked more.
  • Misinformation research would benefit from identifying solutions that conservatives and liberals agree on, such as giving people the option to turn misinformation moderation on or off.

Statistics:

  • 95% of Americans believe that misinformation's misleading narratives are a problem.
  • 75% of conspiracy theories shared on Truth Social come from Trump's account.
  • 2020 research found that conservative voices are amplified on social media networks.
  • A recent study of X users found that conservative posts were more likely to be tagged as false or misleading than liberal posts.
  • An April 2025 study found that conservatives are more susceptible to misleading content and more likely to be targeted by it than liberals.
  • Fact-checking does work to reduce the transmission of misleading content, with professional fact-checkers rated the most effective.

Sources:

  • The Conversation -- USA -- By H. Colleen Sinclair, Associate Research Professor of Social Psychology, Louisiana State University
  • The Conversation: "Most Americans believe misinformation is a problem - federal research cuts will only make the problem worse" (2025)
  • Klevo/Getty Images: "Is it censorship?"
  • Liudmila Chernetska/Getty Images: "Facts on fact-checking"