Does Social Media Make Us Better or Worse Off? Evidence From the 2016 and 2018 Elections.

Does Social Media Make Us Better or Worse Off? Evidence From the 2016 and 2018 Elections.

Hunt Allcott, Luca Braghieri, Sarah Eichmeyer, Matthew Gentzkow, and Chuan Yu

When
Friday December 7, 2018
10:00 – 11:30 AM

Where
City Club of Washington
555 13th Street, NW
Boardroom
Washington, DC 20004

Social media platforms are being accused of being at the root of a host of social ills: fake news, depression, political polarization, addiction, and other maladies. To test these assertions, Allcott and his team has been tracking the diffusion of misinformation on social media. Recently, they ran a large-scale randomized experiment in which we paid Facebook users to deactivate their accounts in the four weeks before the 2018 midterm elections. Professor Allcott will present results from these studies and other related work.

 

Event Contact: Ashley Benjamin, 202-828-4405, [email protected]

The Technology Policy Institute

The Technology Policy Institute is a non-profit research and educational organization that focuses on the economics of innovation, technological change, and related regulation in the United States and around the world. More information is available at www.techpolicyinstitute.org/.

 

+ posts

Share This Article

View More Publications by

Recommended Reads

BLS Data, School Phone Bans, and AI’s Effects on Labor Markets, Research Roundup, May 2026

Is the Kessler Effect Overplayed in the EU Space Act?

Future of News Ratings and Media Trust with NewsGuard CEO Gordon Crovitz on Two Think Minimum

Explore More Topics

Antitrust and Competition 193
Artificial Intelligence 49
Broadband 400
Content Moderation 15
Economics and Methods 42
Evidence-Based Policy 19
Free Speech 23
Intellectual Property 56
Miscellaneous 339
Privacy and Security 154
Regulation 29
Trade 2
Uncategorized 5

Related Articles

TPI Aspen Discussion Recap: The Supreme Court in an Era of Political Polarization

TPI Aspen Discussion Recap: AI Finds the Flaws. Can We Fix Them Fast Enough?

Digital Crossroads, From Telecom to Big Tech. TPI Aspen Discussion Recap

Video Now Available: Shane Greenstein on Data Center Economics from TPI Aspen

TPI Aspen 2026 Videos Now Available

TPI Aspen Forum 2026: The Supreme Court in an Era of Political Polarization

TPI Aspen Forum 2026: Meeting AI’s Power Demand: Who Pays and Who Builds

TPI Aspen Forum 2026: Digital Crossroads, From Telecom to Big Tech

SIGN UP FOR UPDATES

"(Required)" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Secret Link