Abstract

As social media has become a major channel for information dissemination, while accelerating the flow of information, it has also facilitated the spread of false information, making fact-checking news play an increasingly crucial role in combating false information. This study focuses on exploring how the three key characteristics of fact-checking news - the content theme, the authority of the source, and the verification conclusion - jointly influence users’ interactive behaviors. An online experiment with a group design was conducted. Chinese social media active users were recruited as participants through the Credamo platform. The research results show that, first of all, authoritative sources with high authority, refuted conclusions, and news related to politics and health can all trigger more positive user interaction intentions. Secondly, the authority of the source plays a significant moderating role in the relationship between the verification conclusion and the interactive behavior. This study has revealed the causal mechanism between the characteristics of fact-checking news and user interaction behaviors. It not only deepens our understanding of the information processing behaviors of social media users, but also provides specific empirical evidence for fact-checking institutions to optimize their content production and dissemination strategies. This is of great significance for improving the quality of the online public information environment.