How Political Interest and Gender Influence Persuasion Knowledge, Political Information Seeking, and Support for Regulation of Political Advertising in Social Media

Political advertising in the United States is regulated differently from commercial advertising, and regulations vary by media. The relative lack of regulations on social media has led to the dissemination of false information, often without source disclosure, which is harmful to democracy. In response, in a self-regulatory capacity, Twitter stopped accepting political advertising in 2019, launching a debate over political advertising regulation. We explore voters’ support for regulation of political advertising on social media (as a social or societal outcome of persuasion knowledge), with a focus on how persuasion knowledge of political advertising is related to such support. Our quota sample survey of 208 U.S. voters revealed that political interest in the topic serves as a key moderator in understanding how political information seeking and persuasion knowledge relate to support for regulations. Gender differences in political interest, information seeking, and persuasion knowledge were also found. Men were more likely than women to score higher on these constructs. Considering the role of interest in and information seeking on the topic (i.e., politics) is important for understanding how persuasion knowledge operates.