The Political Psychology of Lynching: WhatsApp Rumors, Anti-Government Appeals, and Violence

Abstract

Rumors about crime have triggered spectacular displays of violence. Why do citizens believe and share these messages? We argue that, in addition to other components, appeals to the untrustworthiness of government authorities constitute a central component of the DNA of violenceinducing rumors. Indeed, a component that allows those circulating rumors to persuade individuals of their credibility and importance. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an original laboratory experiment among students in a rural community in Mexico. We find evidence that appeals to the untrustworthiness of government increase citizens' perceptions of the credibility, importance and shareability of the message. Further, we find individuals perceiving rumors as more credible, important, and sharable to be more likely to incite others to commit violence against alleged criminals when given a chance. The results of this study have broad implications for our understanding of the psychology of rumor sharing and the emergence of extralegal violence.

What Circulates on Partisan WhatsApp in India? Insights from an Unusual Dataset

“…In recent years, threads associated to political actors have been suspected of conveying misinformation and/or hateful content pointed towards minority groups, potentially leading to offline violence (Perrigo, 2019;Cheeseman et al, 2020;Zizumbo-Colunga and del Pilar Fuerte-Celis, 2020;Nuraniyah, 2019). In India, the focus of this study, recent news reports for instance suggest that WhatsApp groups of the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) "demonise(d) the Muslim community through unverified statistics and 'data', call for violence against them and celebrate the prospect of Muslims losing citizenship" (Purohit, 2019).…”