Mapping (mis)Information Diffusion in Rural Kenya

Abstract 

How does information and misinformation spread through a rural community, and what structural features of social networks predict their reach and persistence? This study presents findings from a multi-method field study in rural Kenya that traces information and misinformation diffusion across offline and online social ties. We map social networks by separately eliciting social proximity, discussion, information-sourcing, and intimacy ties among 12,655 unique nodes. We complement this offline network map with donated WhatsApp group chat data, collected through a privacy-preserving pipeline that matches sender identities across datasets via a one-way hashing procedure. This allows us to observe how (mis)information travels through the community and to test the correspondence between online diffusion patterns and offline ties. Finally, we embed a three-arm randomised controlled trial in an ongoing community health campaign to test whether debunking interventions can foster behavioural change and whether network position moderates the effectiveness of corrective information, using willingness to pay for subsidised screening as a behavioural outcome. We discuss implications for modelling information environments in vulnerable, low-connectivity settings, and for designing interventions that leverage existing social infrastructure rather than bypass it.

Bio

Piero Ronzani is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Behavioral and Development Economics at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan. He is a Visiting Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (Berlin) and a Research Affiliate at the International Security and Development Center (ISDC) and the Households in Conflict Network (HiCN). He also serves on the organising team of the Development Economics Network Berlin. His research examines how the structure of social norms and information networks shapes individual decision-making in vulnerable populations..