An Appropriate Set of Skills for Limiting the Spread of Fake News

Abstract

The diversity of news distributed via social media communication channels exposes citizens to large scale disinformation including misleading and false information. In this context of the massive use of social media and considering the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 with regards to democracy, there is a strong need for analytical skills. The main problem is the reduced level of commitment of people to evaluate social media news and to develop the proper analytical skills. This paper aims at exemplifying the utility of conducting survey-based primary research for identifying the most appropriate analytical skills for dealing with fake news. The research method consists of establishing and distributing a questionnaire targeting various categories of people. Feedback was collected through an online survey in 2020. The questionnaire included category questions aiming at analysing the responses from the age, youth category and time spent online perspective. This approach is thought to provide data of sufficient quality and quantity to meet the objective of identifying the most appropriate analytical skills for dealing with fake news. The results of this study emphasize the views of respondents with regards to fake news approach, the extent to which various categories of people are checking the news before sharing, as well as the preferred criteria used for verifying the correctness of the news from social media. Based on the analysis of the results, the author proposed a set of solutions to empower youth to evaluate fake news and to detect disinformation campaigns across social networks.