In what style shall I confront them? The role of social relationships in social correction of misinformation among the UK and Arab Social media users

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

International Journal of Intercultural Relations

Publication Date

3-1-2026

Abstract

This study investigates how social factors influence the likelihood of employing direct or indirect communication styles when correcting misinformation on social media in two different cultural contexts, the United Kingdom (UK) and the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. We conducted an online survey, supported by vignettes, that involved 686 participants, 367 from the UK and 319 from the Arab GCC countries. Participants were presented with a misinformation scenario and asked about their likelihood of using direct or indirect communication styles to correct their acquaintances. The survey captured variations in gender similarity (same vs. different gender), social status (lower vs. qual vs. higher), and social distance (close vs. distant) between the participants and the misinformation posters. The results indicated that Arab participants were more likely than their UK counterparts to use the direct correction style. Furthermore, social factors significantly influenced corrective behaviours in both groups. Participants were less inclined to correct someone of a different gender, higher social status, or someone who was socially distant from them. The gender factor played a significant role in the UK context, whereas in the Arab context, it was less influential. These findings provide valuable insights for designing relationship-aware and culturally tailored interventions (e.g., features or prompts on social media platforms) that promote social corrections.

ISSN

0147-1767

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Volume

111

Disciplines

Communication | Computer Sciences

Keywords

Challenging misinformation, Communication styles, Cross-cultural, Social corrections, Social factors, Social media

Scopus ID

105024114313

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Hybrid: This publication is openly available in a subscription-based journal/series

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