Accuracy prompts protect professional content moderators from the illusory truth effect

Content moderators review problematic content for technology companies. One concern is that repeated exposure to false claims could cause moderators to come to believe the very claims they are supposed to moderate, via the “illusory truth effect.” In a first lab-in-field experiment (N = 199) with a global content moderation company, we found that exposure to false claims while working as moderators increased subsequent belief among (mostly Indian and Philippine) employees by 7.1%. We tested an intervention to mitigate this effect: inducing an accuracy mindset. In both general population samples (NIndia = 997; NPhilippines = 1,184) and a second lab-in-field experiment with professional moderators (N = 239), inducing participants to consider accuracy when first exposed to the claims eliminates the negative effects of exposure on belief in falsehoods. Our results show that the illusory truth effect and the protective power of an accuracy mindset generalize to non-Western populations and professional moderators.