What happened when Twitter deplatformed 70,000 right-wing extremists following the January 6 insurrection? Using a panel of over a half million active Twitter users and a sharp regression discontinuity design, we test the causal effects of this intervention on the circulation of misinformation by those deplatformed, and by users from adjacent groups such as misinformation supersharers, QAnon traffickers and deplatformed users’ followers. We show that Twitter's intervention reduced misinformation on the site substantially by preventing the deplatformed users from spreading it. We also show that similar, non-deplatformed users exited the platform in response to the intervention. The results inform the historical record of the insurrection, a momentous event in U.S. history, and show the capacity of social media platforms to control public discourse.

* Joint work with Stefan D. McCabe, Diogo Ferrari, Jon Green, and David M.J. Lazer.

Dr. Kevin Esterling