Republican-aligned actors issued nearly three-quarters of fact-checked 2024 election hoaxes
During the 2024 U.S. presidential election, politicians and anonymous users openly used disinformation as a campaign strategy. A new study reveals who spread these hoaxes, how they shared them, and who was targeted by the fabricated claims.
In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, a study identified that Republican-aligned actors were responsible for nearly three-quarters, or 73 percent, of the fact-checked hoaxes. The research, conducted by Alba Córdoba-Cabús and Andreu Casero-Ripollés from the Universitat Jaume I in Spain, aimed to categorize the issuers and recipients of these false narratives.
They examined 374 political hoaxes collected from PolitiFact between January 2024 and the inauguration in January 2025. Over 90 percent of the issuers were identifiable political figures and regular citizens, with anonymous users making up nearly 40 percent of the cases. Political candidates and influencers together accounted for approximately 16 percent of the hoaxes.
Political actors, including Republicans, typically spread unverified claims through various channels such as campaign rallies, television interviews, and press releases, while anonymous users and influencers relied primarily on social media. The study found that Republican-aligned actors were responsible for 73 percent of the hoaxes, while Democratic actors were responsible for around 22 percent.
Most of this fake content aimed to attack political rivals, with candidates appearing as subjects in 38 percent of the analyzed items. Interestingly, Republican actors also directed nearly 20 percent of their false claims at their own party or candidate in a positive manner, a trend also observed in Democratic actors but at a lower rate of about 7 percent.
Written by urgent.news from PsyPost's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
