Research pick: Fake news alert - "An empirical study on internet-based false news stories: experiences, problem awareness and responsibilities"

Fake news represents an important challenge for democracy as it can interfere with public perception of actual events and happenings in society, politics, economics, and influence them in untoward ways to holding and acting on opinions based on lies and misinformation.

We all have access to far more information than we ever did at any point in history. Every hour of every day is filled with streams of information from news outlets, social media and beyond. Much of that information is output with intent well beyond its sharing for the sake of knowledge. Much of it is misinformation or disinformation, propaganda, manipulative content designed to help a third party fulfil their agenda. We have come to know this as fake news in the era of soundbites and social media doom scrolling.

Writing in the International Journal of Applied Decision Sciences, researchers in Germany, explain how they have taken an empirical view of internet-based false news stories and looked at the experiences, problem awareness, and responsibilities associated with those stories among university students exposed to them. Hypotheses that emerge from the work of Sven Grüner at the Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Saale, Germany, are multifarious and require careful consideration if we are to address the problem of fake news. Grüner describes the hypotheses to be tested.

First, people are less likely to assume that they are dealing with false news stories the greater their trust in others and the more emphasis they put on the opinions of others. Secondly, fake news are perceived as a problem at the societal level but not at the individual level. Thirdly, men overestimate their ability to spot fake news. Finally, people perceive the operators of media platforms as being in charge of fake news.

The unimaginable challenge we face is how to develop an efficient and effective information system that precludes the dissemination of fake news. Unfortunately, in the words of George Orwell

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act

Grüner, S. (2022) ‘An empirical study on internet-based false news stories: experiences, problem awareness and responsibilities’, Int. J. Applied Decision Sciences, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.15–45.