News literacy, fake news recognition, and authentication behaviors after exposure to fake news on social media

ABSTRACT

The global problem of online disinformation has led scholars, educators, and other stakeholders in societies to emphasize the utility of news literacy to engender more critical news audiences. Using a survey among a representative online sample of citizens in Hong Kong (N = 1485), this study examined how dispositional news literacy was related to individuals’ ability to discern real and fake COVID-related news on social media and their news authentication behaviors. Results showed that higher news literacy was related to greater ability to discern the veracity of real and fake news headlines;greater likelihood of certain internal acts of authentication when exposed to fake news (e.g. assessing content characteristics of the message);and greater likelihood to search online to verify fake news. The findings demonstrated the normative benefits of high dispositional news literacy among the general populace that can attenuate the effects of online disinformation. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Media & Society is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)