Abstract
Short video-based prebunking reduces misinformation susceptibility by forewarning viewers about manipulation tactics. However, its effectiveness across older populations (45 + ), diverse cultures, and election-related misinformation remains unclear. To address this, we conducted 13 surveys across 12 EU nations (
N
= 19,735), testing three inoculation videos developed for the largest prebunking campaign to date, which reached 120M+ YouTube users before the 2024 EU Elections. These videos targeted three widely used misinformation tactics—scapegoating, decontextualization, and discrediting—which were prevalent across EU nations leading up to the elections. The videos improved manipulation (measured through manipulativeness assessments) and technique (measured through the correct identification of tactics) discernment of manipulative content from non-manipulative content and enhanced sharing decisions. Though effects were small (
d
s ≈ 0.08–0.38), they were significant across surveys. Longer (50
s
) videos showed more consistent improvements in discernment than shorter (20
s
) ones, but both improved technique discernment. Moderation analyses revealed country-level (e.g., education index) and socio-demographic (e.g., personal educational attainment) influences that could inform future interventions. These findings demonstrate that scalable video-based inoculation interventions can be deployed to counter election misinformation across nations, but future work should explore how repeated or context-specific prebunking can sustain resistance to misinformation in diverse electoral and media environments.
Across 12 EU nations (N = 19,735), short prebunking videos targeting scapegoating, decontextualization, and discrediting improved older adults’ ability to discern manipulation and make wiser sharing decisions about election misinformation.