Speaker: Sumitra Badrinathan, Assistant Professor American University, Department of politics, governance, and economics

Title: Countering Anti-Minority Disinformation Narratives: A Field Experiment in India

Abstract: Rumors that spread discrimination, hate and prejudice against the Muslim minority in India are widespread, fueling intolerance and acts of vigilante violence. These anti-minority rumors often contain misinformation. Yet, the nature of these rumors --- typically, intricate narratives combining specific allegations with broader generalizations --- makes them difficult to fact-check. While fact-checking can reduce the impact of situation-specific misinformation, we expect it to be more limited against more generalized anti-minority rumors, whose content is frequently unverifiable (for example, because they attribute hidden or private motives or because they make predictions about future events). Moreover, fact-checking specific actions may not necessarily be effective at dislodging broader narratives about entire minority groups. Given these limitations, we ask: what informational interventions can reduce belief in anti-minority rumors and mitigate their downstream effects on discrimination and anti-democratic norms? To answer these questions, we test the effect of two interventions in a proposed survey and WhatsApp-based field experiment in Bihar, India: (1) a critical intervention that highlights the role of elites in creating and spreading disinformation, and (2) a technical intervention which emphasizes logical inconsistencies and corrects verifiable factual claims. Using narrative-based podcast episodes, each targeting a specific rumor or stereotype and each providing information to help dislodge it, we test the effect of a 5-episode podcast series on belief in misinformation and number of outcomes related to discrimination and prejudice against Muslims in India. This project is currently in the data collection stage and we expect to have full results by September 2026.