Republican-aligned actors issued nearly three-quarters of fact-checked 2024 election hoaxes

During the 2024 United States presidential election, political actors and anonymous online users regularly spread false information as an open campaign strategy. A recent study identifies who promoted these hoaxes and who was targeted, revealing that political figures and regular citizens approach the creation of fake content in distinct ways. The research was published in American Behavioral Scientist.

False narratives in politics can distort public perception and erode trust in democratic systems. The spread of fabricated claims often spikes during election seasons, when voters are paying close attention to public discourse.

In the past decade, digital platforms have made it easier for people to circulate misleading material. Disinformation is characterized by the intentional spread of false content to gain a strategic advantage or cause harm.

Much of the academic research on this topic has focused on the content of fake news stories or how fast they travel across the internet. Fewer studies have examined the specific people generating and fielding these falsehoods.

Understanding the individuals who launch unverified claims and the people they target helps build a better picture of modern political communication. Alba Córdoba-Cabús and Andreu Casero-Ripollés, communication researchers at the Universitat Jaume I in Spain, led the recent project. They wanted to categorize the spreaders of political hoaxes, known as issuers, and the subjects of those hoaxes, known as recipients.

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The researchers analyzed a sample of 374 false messages related to the 2024 U.S. presidential election. They collected these items from PolitiFact, a prominent journalistic organization that verifies political claims. The analyzed period spanned from January 2024 through the presidential inauguration in January 2025.

For each verified hoax, the research team systematically categorized multiple details. They recorded the channel where the message appeared, the specific topic, and the exact type of falsehood. They also identified the political affiliations and public roles of both the people spreading the claims and the people the claims were about.

In more than 90 percent of the cases, the team could readily identify the person or group issuing the false statement. Spreading falsehoods appears to be a normalized, public tactic rather than a secretive operation. People generating this content did not typically try to hide their identities.

The researchers suggest this reflects a political environment where actors do not fear being penalized by voters for sharing unverified claims. Anonymous online users were the most common source, responsible for nearly 40 percent of the false messages. Political candidates and celebrities or internet influencers tied for the second most common sources.

Each of these latter groups accounted for roughly 16 percent of the items. The data revealed an association between the type of person sharing the claim and the medium they used to share it. Anonymous users and influencers relied almost exclusively on social media platforms to circulate their messages.

Political candidates and public officials took a different approach. They distributed unverified claims across a wider variety of channels, including campaign rallies, television interviews, and press releases. This strategy suggests an effort to reach voters across many different formats, rather than relying solely on internet algorithms.

The subject matter of the hoaxes also varied depending on who was talking. Politicians tended to center their false statements around public policies, such as the economy, immigration, and crime.

Conversely, anonymous users and influencers focused heavily on the mechanics of the campaign itself. Their posts frequently targeted the voting process, polling numbers, or the private lives of political figures.

The study found differences in the mechanics of the deception. Political actors often used misleading content, which involves twisting real statistics or misinterpreting data to fit a specific narrative.

Anonymous users and influencers more frequently relied on false context. This occurs when real images, videos, or quotes are shared alongside fabricated background details to change their original meaning.

When looking at political affiliations, actors aligned with the Republican party issued about 73 percent of the hoaxes. Democratic actors were responsible for roughly 22 percent of the unverified claims in the sample.

Most of this fake content was designed to attack political rivals. Candidates were the primary targets, appearing as the subject in 38 percent of the analyzed items. Democratic figures were on the receiving end of about 57 percent of the falsehoods, while Republicans were targeted by about 22 percent.

The researchers also identified a growing trend of constructive disinformation. While false claims are traditionally used as attacks, Republican actors directed nearly 20 percent of their false claims at their own party or candidate in a positive manner. These messages were intended to inflate accomplishments or bolster public support, rather than tear down an opponent.

Democratic actors used this same supportive tactic, though at a lower rate of roughly 7 percent. This highlights an evolution in political deception. It shows that fake news is not strictly used as an offensive weapon against adversaries, but can also act as an artificial booster to make a candidate appear more attractive to the electorate.

The findings rely on data collected by a single fact-checking organization. Because fact-checkers cannot review every questionable statement made during an election, the sample likely does not capture all the unverified content that circulated online. The study is based on a specific subset of verified falsehoods rather than the entirety of the internet’s political discourse.

The study focuses entirely on the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The communication tactics observed in this specific political environment might not translate to other countries or local political races. Future studies will need to examine elections in different global regions to see if these patterns hold steady across different political systems.

The study, “Actors of Disinformation: Issuers and Recipients of Hoaxes in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election,” was authored by Alba Córdoba-Cabús and Andreu Casero-Ripollés.