Investigating the Susceptibility to Misinformation Through Behavioral Factors

by

by : 
Sally L. & Jasmine W.

Summary

With the surge of social media usage in the past decade, misinformation has become increasingly prevalent, especially among the youth. In 2017, 31% of kids aged 10 to 18 have reshared at least one false news story on the misconception of its reliability. The spread of fake news is not a new problem nor an easy problem to solve; current fixes, including both AI and human filtering sources, have proven to be temporary and insufficient. In order to introduce a new perspective to current research, we plan to investigate the factors and behaviors that correlate with susceptibility to fake news through a survey. The survey will assess participants on their ability to identify fake news through headlines and collect data on their behaviors concerning general news.