Spreading Fake News on Social Media: A Literature Study

In the past, false news was already prevalent during election campaigns but with the help
of social media such false information travel much faster and farther than ever before.
Many political analysts blame social networks for their inabilities to check such false
propagation, and others believe fake political news does not affect people’s decision
when voting rather it supported their own belief systems. It is emphasized that an
individual is unable to stop fake news just by imposing censorship on popular streams of
social media. Additionally, political analysts believe that fake stories that are delivered
through social media has created a new form of forgery. Websites catering to fake news
multiply day by day on the online media scenario. Whereas social media giants such as
Facebook, Google, and YouTube are struggling with how to handle and filter the outburst
of false information causing users and consumers to differentiate facts from fakes.
Although, one may be able to recognize fake news online by simply considering the
source, checking the author, reading beyond the headline, and checking the articles
credibility. It has been found that the online revenues is one of the motives of authors to
create fake news by creating fictional but sensational articles.

Post-truth Politics and Fake News in Asia

The birth of mass media in the 20th Century gave light to the first expositions on the
notion of fake news. Stories such as the US presidential elections and the blatant
misinformation accompanying Britain’s vote to leave the European Union has been only
one of the few major issues that have been said to be influenced by fake news. Statistics
in Asia concerning a variety of chatting apps such as WeChat or KakaoTalk proves that
Asia’s vast connected populations provide a fertile ground for fake news. According to a
research by the Reuters Institute, a quarter of online users in Singapore and Malaysia say
social media is their main source of news which may prove to be more harmful than
helpful. Social Media is in the center of winning the hearts and minds of voters.
Ironically, the current debate over fake news showed the foresight of China, which
recognized problems with misinformation on social media early on. In the years since the
global financial crisis of 2008, the Edelman Trust Barometer (which is an American
public relations and marketing consultancy firm) has tracked a consistent decline of trust
around the world in mainstream institutions such as media and government. It was also
found that there have been big drops in trust of media in Singapore due to their muted
coverage of public service failures. Furthermore, in Hong Kong, social media led the
coverage and debate on pro-democracy protests because traditional media are already
seen as biased. Tackling the problem to address fake news, Lippmann proposed creating
a professional “intelligence bureau” of “expert reporters” who would present an accurate
picture of reality. In order to fight the spread of fake news, governments have already
established law enforcement such as those against rumors and libel. In a pioneering
move, Germany is considering legislation that would subject social media firms to fines
for publishing fake news unless it is deleted within 24 hours. The ministry of
Communication and Informatics is also asking Facebook to help block fake news. In
countries with imperfect legal regimes, new regulations and governance mechanisms to
tackle fake news will inevitably be intertwined with rule-of-law and freedom of speech
issues. In the end, the fake news that we choose to believe in our respective digital
bubbles may just be a reflection of our social and political divisions. Ultimately, any
attempts to reverse the proliferation of fake news will need to address social
fragmentation and political polarization amid anxieties about social and economic
wellbeing, religion, and identity.

Understanding the Tendency of Media Users to Consume Fake News

The television is still the primary source of information for older generations, younger
generations state that they rely on social media and other various online platforms to get
and to fulfill their need of information. A reason for younger generations to seek
information through the internet and social media is because teenagers prefer to “self-
tailor” their news, and because they see traditional news outlets as “Force-fed”, boring,
and less interesting information. If we refer to the previous studies that asserted online
and social media for having a large share for the distribution of fake news sites, then the
groups of these young media users have the higher risk to be exposed to false
information. In conjunction to this possibility of high exposure to false information, the
tendency of younger generations to have a lack of ability to differentiate false
information from real information making them prone to trusting unverified information
without further effort to cross-check facts. News and information is still perceived closely
related to professional journalists and institutionalized media that are considered to have
gone through several editorial steps in preparing information before having it published
for its consumers through the media. This research observes a number of previous
researches that investigate the tendencies of media users in consuming and distributing
fake news, and it was found that factors such as age and personal beliefs are some
determinants in consuming fake news. The research results show that based on the pattern
of media consumption, the media users in the age group of 15-30 years old have the
higher risk to be exposed to fake news. Based on the perception of media trustworthiness,
this research also finds the younger group of media consumers, particularly the age group
of 15-20 years of age, was the age group who has the tendency to believe fake news. The
result of this research provides important information regarding who are the media users
that should be targeted for literacy program to reduce, or even to eliminate, the
distribution of fake news in public space.