Abstract
The infodiet of young Spanish adults aged 18 to 25 was analysed to determine their attitude towards fake news. The objectives were: to establish whether they have received any training in fake news; to determine whether they know how to identify fake information; and to investigate whether they spread it. The study employed a descriptive quantitative method consisting of a survey of 500 representative interviews of the Spanish population aged between 18 and 25 through a structured questionnaire. The results indicate that they are aware of the importance of training, although generally they do not know of any course and when they do, they do not tend to enroll on one either due to lack of interest or time. These young adults feel that they know how to identify fake content and, moreover, that they know how to do so very well. However, they do not use the best tools. While they do not always verify information, they mainly suspect the credibility of information when it is meaningless. However, they do not tend to spread fake information. We conclude that media information literacy training (MILT) is necessary in educational centres that focuses on the main issues identified.
Highlights
In the era of fake news, information consumption patterns require media literacy to empower citizens and help them acquire the media skills necessary to access, understand, analyse, evaluate, produce content and distinguish between real and fake news [1].In addition to the problem of the immediacy with which it is generated and spread, various studies warn that it is widely believed in society
We found that 76.8% of young Spanish adults aged between 18 and 25 attach great importance to media literacy to prevent disinformation
Young Spanish adults are aware of the importance of training in order to know how to determine the veracity of information
Summary
In the era of fake news, information consumption patterns require media literacy to empower citizens and help them acquire the media skills necessary to access, understand, analyse, evaluate, produce content and distinguish between real and fake news [1].In addition to the problem of the immediacy with which it is generated and spread, various studies warn that it is widely believed in society. If the report “Fake news, filter bubbles, post-truth and trust” [2] revealed that Spanish people were the most likely in Europe to believe fake news, forecasts do not indicate any improvements in the future because in 2022, according to the Gartner report [3], more fake information will be consumed than true. This study analyses young adults because they are the age group who most consume information in the digital environment [4,5] and are “those who feel most vulnerable to fake news [ . ]. almost half of the people who believe they receive fake news are very often aged between 18 and 34 years old” [6]
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