Why Are People Fooled By 'Fake News'? - BBC Research

Many people overestimate their ability to spot "fake news", BBC research found when speaking to social media users in Nigeria and Kenya.

Although many people understand the consequences of sharing misleading stories, it is often only on a conceptual level, it shows.

Researchers also found that the link between disinformation and things like electoral manipulation and democracy is too abstract for users to grasp.

Emotions trump reason when it comes to sharing news, the team found.

"After watching the news I was touched, so I had to post it," said one interviewee in Nigeria.

Nigeria and Kenya have lower levels of digital literacy say researchers, especially in rural areas, where Facebook may be seen as synonymous with the internet and there all things on it may be seen as "true".

But Nigerians and Kenyans do better than Indians when it comes to checking for themselves if a dubious story is true, which they do through search engines like Google or verifying with others in their network, among other things.


(BBC)



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