Social Media Users’ Understanding of Fake News Detection and Validation Tools

Abstract

The internet has now become a part of our daily lives. Besides providing access to a wealth of information and enabling communication, it also poses risks, such as fake news and rumours. Since 2016, the number of people becoming victims of cyber-crimes has increased. This could be due to the proliferation of fake news on the internet. Other effects of fake news would include the proliferation of false and discredited news as well as providing opportunities for harmful conspiracy and hate speeches to spread. Ultimately, this can create confusion and misunderstanding on important social and political issues, and society at large becomes disunited as mistrust between different groups increases. Within the last few years, there appears to be a lack of research that measures the awareness on the availability, as well as the impact of fake news detection and validation tools among social media users, especially towards information safety. This study aims to discover the effect of fake news among social media users in Malaysia, understand the awareness of fake news detection and validation tools and explore the impact of fake news detection and validation tools on social media users. Data is collected using open-ended in-depth interviews with six respondents and analysed using the qualitative data analysis technique software Atlas.ti. The findings of the study show that most of the respondents agree on the adverse effect of fake news dissemination. However, only half of them lack awareness of the importance of tools in validating the news online.The respondents also acknowledge the great impact of the tools in combating fake news on information safety on social media. This study is significant to educate social media users about cyber wellness and equip them with the awareness about tools that can help them identify and validate the news easily and freely accessible.