Research Article Open Access

A study to analyze awareness and detection level of fake news among university students

Abstract

Fake news is not a new phenomenon, the increasing number of smartphone users and cheap internet have made it easier for people to access information, but at the same time, fake news is also easily accessible to people. From time to time, a rapid increase in fake news has been observed. This research examines the ability of young adult’s ability to detect fake news and their fake news awareness level among university students in India. This study also examines the level of fake news awareness among students to process fake news on social media. A quantitative data collection method using questionnaires was used to collect data from 80 students from the university in Lucknow. This study showed that majority of respondents they don’t share such fake news after identifying it as fake. The majority of respondents would re-share the post to alert other users, indicating that they are proactive in curbing the spread of fake news. Students have a moderate level of new media literacy, according to study findings. As a result, in this era of information, through media literacy education, fake news and misinformation can be identified and its increasing spread can be stopped. Therefore; today, in the time of social media, these types of skills become mandatory for adults so that they can be able to tackle the increasing challenges of fake news and misinformation.

Arvind Kumar*

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