Young people have more difficulty identifying fake news. The more time they spend on the internet, the more complex the task becomes for them.
- Researchers have developed a test to estimate vulnerability to fake news.
- Young people are more susceptible to fake news than older people.
- The more time they spend on the internet, the harder it is for them to tell the difference between real and fake information.
Everyone can be convinced by a fake news, false information, but some people are more at risk. Scientists at the University of Cambridge have developed a test to identify those most vulnerable to misinformation. “The misinformation susceptibility test is a two-minute questionnaire that allows you to have “serious clues” on a person’s vulnerability to false information. In Behavioral Research Methodsscientists publish the results of a trial of the test carried out in the United States.
Disinformation: a tool combining true and false information
Experiments including more than 8,000 people were carried out to validate the test. But last April, it was used by the polling organization YouGov in a consultation including more than 1,500 Americans. The Cambridge team worked on relevant assessment tools to find the right mix of fake and real information to get reliable results. Examples of real information came from the news agency Reutersand the fake ones were created through artificial intelligence, using ChatGPT. “Artificial intelligence generated thousands of false information in secondspoints out Dr. Rakoen Maertens, lead author of this study on the test called MIST. As researchers dedicated to fighting misinformation, this was eye-opening and alarming.”
Fake news: who are the most vulnerable people?
In this trial, participants correctly classified about two-thirds of the information. But this result depends on different factors: the survey revealed that the youngest are less good than their elders in identifying false information. Only 11% of 18-29 year olds, i.e. Gen Z and millennials, scored high (more than 16 correct titles), compared to 36% for those over 65. “This runs counter to mainstream ideas about the spread of misinformation online, which hold that older, less digitally savvy ‘boomers’ are more likely to be duped by fake news.“, observe the authors of the study. Also, the more time a person spends online for recreational purposes, the less likely they are to be able to distinguish true information from misinformation. About 30% of those who spend less than 2 hours online every day scored high, compared to just 15% of those who spend at least 9 hours online.
The survey also shed light on participants’ habits in terms of media: more than 50% of people who had access to information through traditional media had high scores. “Social networks had the most sensitive audiences to misinformationnote the authors. Some 53% of those accessing information through Snapchat scored low, with just 4% scoring high.“
Disinformation: how to fight fake news?
“Disinformation is one of the biggest challenges facing democracies in the digital age“, recalls Professor Sander van der Linden, lead author of this research. To understand where and how to best combat misinformation, we need a unified way to measure sensitivity to fake news. That’s what our test provides.” However, the authors believe that faced with the large amount of false information present on social networks, it is essential to develop media literacy and to achieve a “urgent overhaul“algorithms and platform design.
