Scientists have established which people are more susceptible to fake news

Scientists from the University of British Columbia have found that representatives of "Generation Z" are more susceptible to fake news than older internet users.

The research results are published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (PID).

The study was conducted using a special tool - the Misinformation Susceptibility Test (MIST), developed by psychologists and available online. Participants were asked to evaluate which of the presented headlines were true and which were false. Among the examples were both real and fake headlines: "The government is carefully hiding its involvement in the 9/11 attacks," "About a quarter of major US newspapers laid off employees in 2018."

The results showed a gap between actual skills and confidence in them. Many participants overestimated their ability to distinguish truth from falsehood. To the scientists' surprise, Generation Z on average showed worse results compared to other age groups.

People with more conservative views were also more likely to believe fake news. Those who held "far-right" beliefs proved especially vulnerable to disinformation. At the same time, they generally assessed their abilities adequately, which could not be said about those with more radical positions.

In addition, it was found that women were more likely than men to "take the bait" of disinformation, but were better aware of their skill level. Education also played an important role: participants with higher education performed better than others, but tended to overestimate their abilities.

It is commonly believed that the "digital generation" has a natural immunity to fakes, but the data suggests otherwise. This raises the question of the need for a systematic approach to teaching media literacy regardless of age.