Empirical Evidence of Fake News Awareness Levels Among Students

The modern information landscape is flooded with fake and fabricated stories that are designed to mislead. It is especially the proliferation of socialmedia platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc., that have become breeding grounds for these deceptive narratives. The effect is severe and wide-ranging and may impact individuals, organisations, and communities. It is particularly younger people and students who are susceptible to misinformation as they are known for their heavy social media use. One way to combat the spreading of misinformation and its associated negative consequences is to increase fake news awareness levels. In this study, a fake news awareness measuring instrument was developed to assess the awareness and literacy levels of a selected group of university students. The main objective was to determine whether students could recognise fake news stories. The results of the survey also highlighted information on various other aspects associated with fake news, e.g. the spreading of fake news, guidelines on how to educate people about fake news, general behaviour, and news preferences of students. The study revealed that students are indeed in many cases not able to identify whether a news article is fake or real. A set of recommendations is offered to increase the fake news literacy levels of younger social media users.