Exhibit 719

Out-group animosity drives engagement on social media

Exhibit 719 · Peer-reviewed study

Out-group animosity drives engagement on social media

we found that posts about the political out-group were shared or retweeted about twice as often as posts about the in-group.

Analysis of 2,730,215 Facebook and Twitter posts from news media and US congressional members. Out-group language was the strongest predictor of shares; authors state results are correlational.

Source: Rathje, Van Bavel, van der Linden (PNAS)
Date: 23 June 2021
Quoted from: Abstract
Grade: Peer-reviewed
Document: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2024292118
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding POL-3.5: Peer-reviewed In 2,730,215 Facebook and Twitter posts from news media and members of Congress, posts about the political out-group were shared or retweeted about twice as often as posts about the in-group. Twitter studies find that positive social feedback increases later expressions of moral outrage and that moral-emotional language increases diffusion within ideological groups.