How much does fake coronavirus news affect people’s real-life health behavior?

How much does exposure to fake coronavirus information change people’s behavior? What about when it comes from the president? In a working paper (not yet peer-reviewed) by Ciara M. Greene and Gillian Murphy of Ireland’s University College Dublin and University College Cork find that, in some cases, exposure to false information about the pandemic can change people’s actions — but the size of the effect is small, at least in Ireland. From the paper:

In this study, we exposed participants to fake news stories suggesting, for example, that certain foods...