Polarization and the configuration of echo-chambers stimulate the creation and distribution of fake-news and other forms of disinformation (Tucker et al 2018). In the current digital environment, disinformation is amplified and any dissonant voice is expelled from predominant discourses. While users tend to believe that they act autonomously, evolutionary, cognitive and neurological phenomena induce them to confirm their own convictions and to reject antithetical information. These phenomena, which operate outside users’ awareness, create the illusion of certainty and result in extreme identification with the group, which, in turn, intensifies the lack of diversity. Consequently, there has been widespread concern that disinformation on social media is damaging democratic societies at their core.
This study aims to research to what extent people are aware of how disinformation is produced and spread; how people perceive the effect of fake news, and how their perception can affect the efficiency of measures promoted at different levels to combat and reduce disinformation. Based on an analysis of a nation-wide representative survey (n=1001) in Spain, and complemented by 6 focus groups (n=48), we found that there is a widespread and growing concern related to the spread of disinformation. Participants over 45, and in particular female participants, show greater concern about the spread of fake news. We detected a general belief that fake news are frequent, but mainly because the media talk about them. In a more down-to-earth fashion, fake news is viewed as easily spotted, and therefore, users are not worried about being taken in, and do not view it as a personal threat. Indeed, research shows evidence that people are susceptible to the third-person effect: participants, both those in the survey and those in the focus groups, have the perception that fake news affects others more than themselves. Younger individuals are more aware that they can be influenced by fake news than the older age groups. Furthermore, younger users display the greatest awareness of the fact that older users can easily be influenced by fake news. On the other hand, older individuals are perceived as the most easily influenced group, but their self-perception is not that of vulnerability. Quite on the contrary, many older users regard themselves as all but immune to disinformation.
Thus, it would seem that some measures designed to combat disinformation have a rather limited capacity if we bear in mind that the majority of users do not (want to) believe that they themselves are gullible or credulous, but they do consider this a danger for others. Furthermore, previous research has shown that the third-person effect predicts attitudes and intentions regarding censorship to protect vulnerable others from potentially harmful messages (Xu and Gonzenbach, 2008). As an antidote to filter bubbles, echo chambers, and hyperpartisan media, measures to tackle disinformation should go beyond promoting fact-checking, and they should promote among the participants a critical attitude toward the media and social media as well as the need for well-balanced, non-partisan, diverse media consumption.