Ability of detecting and willingness to share fake news

Abstract

By conducting large-scale surveys in Germany and the United Kingdom, we investigate the individual-level determinants of the ability to detect fake news and the inclination to share it. We distinguish between deliberate and accidental sharing of fake news. We document that accidental sharing is much more common than deliberate sharing. Furthermore, our results indicate that older, male, high-income, and politically left-leaning respondents better detect fake news. We also find that accidental sharing decreases with age and is more prevalent among right-leaning respondents. Deliberate sharing of fake news is more prevalent among younger respondents in the United Kingdom. Finally, our results imply that respondents have a good assessment of their ability to detect fake news: those we identified as accidental sharers were also more likely to have admitted to having shared fake news.

Who shares fake news on social media? Evidence from vaccines and infertility claims in sub-Saharan Africa

“…For instance, Guess et al [ 27 ] report that about 8.5% of respondents in the U.S. shared at least once misinformation on Facebook during the presidential election campaign in 2016, while our study documents a sharing rate of 13.8%. Second, we demonstrate that the majority (around two thirds) of fake news articles is disseminated accidentally which is in line with studies from richer countries [ 23 ]. Third, we document massive differences across the adopted measures of fake news sharing (intention to share vs. actual sharing) with actual sharing rates being much lower compared to those derived from intention-based measures.…”

“…The evidence coming from these studies is far from conclusive, suggesting that the drivers of deliberate and accidental sharing of fake news is context and study-specific. For instance, some studies find that most sharing of fake news can be attributed to accidental sharing [ 23 ], while others stress the role of psychological reward mechanisms [ 25 ] or the interest in the information as well as claim veracity [ 26 ]. Likewise, while some studies find that older people are more likely to share political fake news [ 27 , 28 ], others find that younger people might do so [ 21 , 23 ].…”

“…For instance, some studies find that most sharing of fake news can be attributed to accidental sharing [ 23 ], while others stress the role of psychological reward mechanisms [ 25 ] or the interest in the information as well as claim veracity [ 26 ]. Likewise, while some studies find that older people are more likely to share political fake news [ 27 , 28 ], others find that younger people might do so [ 21 , 23 ]. There are also contradictory findings regarding the influence of personality traits and demographic variables such as gender and education [ 21 , 24 , 25 ].…”

“…Only few studies have investigated what determines accidental vs. deliberate sharing of fake news [21][22][23][24]. The evidence coming from these studies is far from conclusive, suggesting that the drivers of deliberate and accidental sharing of fake news is context and study-specific.…”

Identity and inequality misperceptions, demographic determinants and efficacy of corrective measures

“…In the first wave, we applied quotas on gender, age, income, and labor market status to create a representative survey 48 , 49 . Once the quota had been met, the respondents were no longer permitted to submit a response.…”