Research from the University of Zurich, the University of California, and the University of Warsaw, published in the June 10 edition of Nature Human Behaviour, shows that education efforts to tackle false information through fact-checking or media literacy initiatives
- increase the public’s skepticism toward “fake news” and
- breed distrust in genuine, fact-based news sources.
Events such as the Capitol Riots on January 6, 2021, vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine have given people reason to question the validity of news stories. These natural concerns have been heightened by the “deep fake” idea that generative artificial intelligence can be used to produce apparently real videos and audio of events and speeches that never occurred.
“Public discourse on fake news not only increases skepticism toward false information but also erodes trust in reliable news sources, which play a key role in functioning democracies,” says the study’s first author, Emma Hoes.
According to the UZH political scientist, the potential gains from reducing misperceptions must be carefully weighed against the broader implications of heightened skepticism, as most people encounter very little “fake news” in an average day.
“This is particularly the case in many Western democracies, where reliable, fact-based news is fortunately still much more common than misinformation,” she says.
