BLUF
Up to 75% of Americans believe they can spot 'fake news', but a study has shown that they can’t, and worse still, they are more than likely to share 'fake news'.Summary
Ryan Prior writes that a published study showed that overconfident people are more likely to believe false claims and like or share these claims on social media. The study provided participants with headlines formatted to look like a Facebook feed. Then the participants were asked if they thought the stories were true.
Ben Lyons, a professor of communications at the University of Utah, stated:
'Republicans are more overconfident than Democrats, which is not surprising given the lower levels of media trust they report'.
Lyons noted that 90% of study participants were not aware of their limitations. Thinking that they can detect fake news, they were more likely to believe and share that news, especially if the false news agreed with how the participant viewed the world.
References
Jan 2021 The Telegraph Fake news: What exactly is it – and how can you spot it?
