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SINGAPORE – Nearly six in 10 Singaporeans or permanent residents have found and believed false information in the form of text or images, a study showed.
The Institute for Political Studies (IPS) survey found that no one is immune to false information regardless of age, socioeconomic status, and educational background, with more than two-thirds of more than 2,000 respondents trusting a manipulated “news article.” presented to them. as part of the study.
Of these, almost half of the respondents that the IPS classified as “knowledgeable” trusted the article and detected no signs that it had been tampered with.
The study also found that digital and information literacy among Singaporeans was generally low.
Trust in major local media, such as online news websites, newspapers, and television, is higher than non-traditional platforms such as social media sites and instant messaging.
The IPS published on Thursday (December 17) the findings of phase one of its study, which aims to understand the susceptibility of Singaporeans to false information.
Phases two and three of the study, which are still in progress, will explore how Singaporeans process and verify information, as well as assess the effectiveness of digital literacy programs.
Here are the key findings from the survey, which was conducted between November and December 2019 by IPS Principal Investigator Dr. Carol Soon and Research Assistant Shawn Goh:
1. No one is immune to false information
About six in 10 respondents said they sometimes, often, or very often found and believed false information in the form of text and images.
More than two-thirds of them also trusted a “news article” that the IPS had manipulated for the purpose of the study, even though it had changed the source URL, cited false authorities and included multiple grammatical errors.
Even those who are smarter, like young Singaporeans with tertiary education, were not immune, and 46.9 percent of them trusted the tampered item.
Older people and those living in public housing, particularly those living in one- to three-bedroom HDB apartments, were the most susceptible to false information.
Respondents with high confidence in online-only news sites and those with high confirmation bias were also found to be more susceptible; while those with the greatest knowledge of the media and the information landscape were less so.
2. High level of use and trust in the main communication media
Most Singaporeans still rely on what the IPS calls legacy media, commonly known as mainstream media, for news and current affairs.
Television was used most frequently by 59.3 percent of those surveyed, followed by the online websites of major local media outlets such as The Straits Times and CNA (52.2 percent) and local print newspapers. (34.8 percent).
Trust in these types of media was higher than non-legacy media, including social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook and instant messaging (IM) platforms like WhatsApp.
74% of respondents said television news was reliable or very reliable, followed by print newspapers (70.1%), radio (67.6%) and the online websites of major media outlets from Singapore (61.6%).
“Print newspapers follow a fixed production cycle in which the longer process allows for more robust verification and verification of data,” the study explains.
3. People’s social media drives the sharing of false information
Instant messaging platforms and SNSs were the main channels for false information, the study found.
More than 60 percent of respondents said they sometimes, often, or very often found false information on instant messaging platforms, while 57 percent said they did so on social media.
However, about three-quarters of those surveyed said they had shared false information on instant messaging and social media platforms because the information came from close family and friends.
One possible explanation for why false information seems more credible on these platforms, according to the study, is that the information is likely to be shared by trusted people, such as family members, close friends, or opinion leaders.
“In the case of social media sites, an additional factor may be that people’s social media feeds exist in information bubbles that result from their preservation of information.”
He added that personalized information flows increase the chances that people will receive false information that reinforces their individual biases.
Another worrying trend, he noted, is that the majority of respondents verify information by first asking their family, friends or colleagues (62 percent), before using a search engine (50.1 percent) and consulting sources of information. news (47.4 percent). .
4. Policy implications
The study cited several political implications.
First, digital literacy needs to be boosted by equipping people with tools and skills to evaluate different elements of information, such as tabloid headlines, typos and errors, news sources, and tone of the language used.
“People need to be educated with a very specific kind of knowledge – knowledge about how the media operates and the information landscape – so that they are less susceptible to false information,” he said.
Second, there should be more specific interventions for older people and people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Their greater tendency to trust the manipulated news article suggests a possible class division in information literacy, he said, citing research that has shown that students from families of lower socioeconomic status tend to have less confidence and ability to navigate the class. online space.
Third, the quality of journalism must be improved, particularly for unconventional media that may lack the processes that newsrooms have in place to ensure accuracy.
Authorities can also leverage trusted media and technology platforms, such as search engines, to spread corrective information and debunk falsehoods.
Finally, given the role that interpersonal networks play in the dissemination of information, it is useful to harness the power of social and community networks to discredit falsehoods.
The study said: “Digital literacy programs should also consider imparting soft skills related to intervention, such as how to respond to family and friends who submit false or unverified information in a sensitive but effective way.”
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