Social media users drive the spread of misinformation online by sharing posts that include erroneous information or commenting on controversial topics with unsubstantiated arguments often in earnest. Work on echo chambers has suggested that users' perspectives are reinforced through repeated interactions with like-minded peers, promoted by homophily and bias in information diffusion. Building on long-standing interest in the social bases of language and linguistic underpinnings of social behavior, this work explores how conversations around misinformation are mediated through language use. We compare a number of linguistic measures, e.g., in-/out-group cues, readability, and discourse connectives, within and across topics of conversation and user communities. Our findings reveal increased presence of group identity signals and processing fluency within echo chambers during discussions of misinformation. We discuss the specific character of these broader trends across topics and examine contextual influences.

翻译：社交媒体用户通过分享包含错误信息的帖子或真诚地以未经证实的论点评论争议性话题，推动错误信息在网络上的传播。关于回音室的研究表明，用户的观点通过与志同道合的同伴反复互动得到强化，这种强化受到信息传播中的同质性和偏见的影响。基于对语言社会基础及社会行为语言基础的长期兴趣，本研究探讨了围绕错误信息的对话如何通过语言使用进行调节。我们比较了多种语言测量指标，例如内/外群体线索、可读性及话语连接词，在对话主题和用户社区内部及跨主题、跨社区的表现。研究结果表明，在讨论错误信息时，回音室内部的群体认同信号和加工流畅性显著增加。我们讨论了这些更广泛趋势在不同主题下的具体特征，并考察了情境影响。