Fake news: characterization of different individual profiles in relation to different news topics

Abstract

The existence of fake news is an extremely topical concern which calls into question the veracity of the broadcasted information. Since nowadays the search and production of news is mainly done online, the costs with content production are low and the content’s reach and speed of propagation is very high. These factors facilitate the dissemination of fake news in social platforms that are not specialized means of communication, namely in online social networks. Therefore, this study aims to characterize different profiles of Portuguese individuals based on their susceptibility to several news topics. The attainment of the mentioned profiles is going to be a valuable contribution to information management and it is going to allow future definition of measures to mitigate the propagation of fake news in social platforms. To achieve this, critical literature review was done and accompanied by the creation of a survey to analyze how academic background and topic of the news pieces influence the accuracy of individuals identifying false news. This dissertation intents to understand if there is anyone immune to fake news, or if individuals can be more or less immune depending on the topic.