In a recent study, virtual private network provider, ExpressVPN found that certain athletes, celebrities, and influencers are more likely than others to be associated with fake news. Whether that’s gossip surrounding their personal lives or careers’, nothing is off-the-table for some websites.
Unsurprisingly, politicians, too, aren’t spared.
In 2022, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said that 101 fake and provocative news articles were reported and taken down during the country’s 15th General Election (GE15) campaign. In their statement, MCMC thanked TikTok and Instagram for their cooperation and speed in taking down offensive content.
Even though disseminating fake, offensive, and/or threatening content is an offense under Section 233 of the 1998 Communications and Multimedia Act, people continue to do so. In a 2022 interview with The Star, Dr. Padma Pillai, the communications department head at Sunway University, believes that the overwhelming usage of social media as a source of information by Gen Zers will lead to the rise of unverified information.
As startling as these pieces of information are, it’s worth asking ourselves why we continue to believe in fake news. Especially when fact-checking and verification exist to prevent the proliferation of false information. Below, we explore some possibilities of why fake news continues to plague us all.
So, why do we still fall for fake news?
While the term “fake news” has been around for decades, it gained popularity during the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign when former president, Donald Trump, used it continuously to describe any misinformation surrounding him. Since then, politicians, news outlets, and the general public have used the term daily to describe news articles, posts, or social media posts deemed misleading.
It’s rampant
Perhaps one of the main reasons we tend to believe fake news is that there’s just so much of it going around. During the COVID-19 pandemic, almost 80 percent of consumers in the U.S. reported that they had seen fake news on the coronavirus outbreak in a study by Statista. Even the savviest and most discerning news audiences were not immune to the dangers of fake news, with 40 percent of those studied admitting to accidentally sharing fake news with others online.
Closer to home, MCMC revealed that between 2020 and 2022, they received 3,825 complaints regarding content deemed fake news. Of all the complaints reported, the most common types of fake news revolve around impersonation and defamation of particular individuals.
While many publications and social media platforms have introduced independent fact-checking methods that look into the legitimacy of articles and posts, getting people to believe fact-checks is not always easy, especially when they’re convinced it’s true. Debunking misinformation doesn’t nullify or remove its effects entirely, either.
How cognitive bias influences us
To understand why we fall for fake news, it’s worth looking into how a systematic feature in us, known as cognitive bias, processes information based on personal experiences and preferences. Research by the Center for Information Technology and Society at the University of California Santa Barbara has found four ways cognitive bias impacts our ability to process false information.
The first is that we focus on the headline of an article because it’s how we were taught to read the news. The second involves the story’s popularity on social media, and the third takes advantage of our partisanship. Lastly, we’re affected by the persistence of false information and how long it sticks around, even after it’s been corrected.
Whenever we read an article online, our cognitive bias is at play, helping us check out a headline to determine whether to believe something is true or false. Unfortunately, because so many of us have gotten into the habit of skimming headlines on a website or a newspaper, we’re quick to form opinions surrounding a topic just from looking at the headlines.
In addition to this, many of us already have opinions and biases about the characteristics and behaviors of certain politicians or celebrities. That said, if a headline confirms what we believe to be about them, we’re more likely to believe it.
How to stem the tide of misinformation
So, how exactly can we inoculate ourselves and each other from misinformation and the spread of fake news?
One of the best ways is to start by premeditating yourself and your brain so that you don’t instantly believe everything you read or see online. This comes with introspection and asking yourself if a piece of information is too good to be true.
The second is to equip yourself with knowledge about possible manipulation techniques commonly used in information. University of Bristol cognitive psychologist Stephan Lewandowsky and his colleagues have created five videos that touch on various manipulation techniques and how they’re being used to spread misinformation. Such videos have been proven to improve psychological resilience against fake news on social media.
Another effective way of protecting yourself from fake news? Get your information from various news sources and make it a point to verify them. Consider if the site you’re reading from has obvious political leanings or has particular biases, too.
If you live in Malaysia and have come across any seditious, provocative, or offensive content, be sure to report it to the MCMC complaints portal or report it to Sebenarnya.my.
Source: ExpressVPN
