“Fake” news has been in the news A LOT lately. (Check out these recent stories from the NY Times, NPR, Newshour and another from NY Times on foreign influence) Sometimes with near tragic consequences as the recent episode at a Washington D.C. pizzeria demonstrates. As a professional communicator and trained scientist, I am not immune to getting exasperated as I see dubious or misleading “news” story after news story come across my social media feeds or even reported through reputable mainstream news sources.
Fake news has always been around as the countless alien abduction stories in the National Enquirer, etc., will attest. However, with social media platforms such as Facebook and Reddit, an entirely new ecosystem of fake news purveyors has proliferated. Some do it for fun, some for political reasons and some do it purely for profit.
For example, reporters with NPR’s All Tech Considered tracked down one person who is a registered Democrat who estimated that fake news stories generated by his company make between $10,000-$30,000 a month. His stories all target conservative viewers that fit into existing right-wing conspiracy theories. You need to read the full story but some of the more notable quotes from this person were that he got into the business to “publish blatantly or fictional stories and then be able to publicly denounce those stories and point out the fact that they were fiction;” and that “his writers have tried to write fake news for liberals — but they just never take the bait.”
The big question is why do people believe in fake news?
As one can imagine, the reasons are complex. At a basic level, fake news is believed because most stories seem so believable. According to neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, ” it’s easy to fall for falsehoods because our brains are hard wired to cling to past beliefs, even in the face of overwhelming proof to the contrary.” We also seek out stories that affirm our existing beliefs. Known as confirmation bias, people now seek out any information that matches up with their world view.
Psychologists are trying to understand the underlying reasons why people might fall from fake news. There is some research that indicates that conservatives might be more susceptible to fake news due to a “need for cognition.” This essentially measures a person’s affinity for critical thinking. In numerous studies, conservatives were found to have a significant, negative association between need for cognition and right-wing orientation. In other words, they don’t like to think about things critically. (This does not mean conservatives are not intelligent.) Not all psychologists agree with this assessment. Suffice to say, I expect to see more research published on this topic in the coming years.
Even though fake news publishers like the one featured by NPR felt liberals were not as easily duped by false stories, the reality is that liberals and conservatives alike pass on fake news stories. I have Facebook friends from across the political spectrum and I’ve seen plenty of stories like this from my liberal friends.
Nor is susceptibility to fake news affected by education. A recent Stanford study found that among college students, the “ability to discern truth from falsehood on the Internet is bleak.”
Given that spreading gossip is a classic human trait, fake news is hear to stay. The question is what can we really do about it? In my next post, I discuss five actions that you can take to combat fake news.
Eco-Econ Future 