Gen Z most prone to believing ‘fake news’—Research

DESPITE growing up immersed in the digital world, Gen Z is the most vulnerable in the spread of misinformation than any other age group. 

A new global study conducted by researchers from the University of Cambridge, University of British Columbia, University of Oxford, and King’s College London evaluated over 66,242 individuals from 24 different countries using the Misinformation Susceptibility Test (MIST). 

MIST is a psychometrically validated tool designed to measure an individual’s tendency to discern truth from misinformation in news and other forms of media. It involves a two-minute, 20-point quiz where participants classify headlines as either real or fake. 

The result of the data was surprising. The digital native Gen Zs performed worst in the test. 

It is also revealed that non-male, less educated, and more conservative people were more likely to accept misinformation as true. 

Although people’s confidence in detecting misinformation usually matched their actual ability, the accuracy of this perception varied. Women were particularly good at assessing their ability, while extreme conservatives’ confidence didn’t align with their actual skills.

Nevertheless, despite being the most vulnerable among the other age groups, Gen Z showed that they are the most self-aware when it comes to gauging their abilities to classify information. Unlike others, they had a more accurate sense of their own ability to detect fake news.

This study presents a food for thought: heightened digital exposure doesn’t automatically translate to higher digital literacy. 

Furthermore, according to the study, the lower digital literacy might likely be a result of lower quality of news on social media, which most of the Gen Zs consume.

“Younger people increasingly turn to social media to find out about the world, but these channels are awash with misinformation,” said Dr. Rakoen Maertens from University of Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology. 

“Approaches to media literacy, as well as algorithms and platform design, require an urgent rethink,” he added.