Why Do People Share ‘Fake News’ on Social Media?

The final IAMCR 2019 panel I’m attending today is on ‘fake news’ and hate speech, and we start with Andrew Duffy. His focus is on why people share ‘fake news’ stories via social media.

Much of the research on ‘fake news’ points out that it damages democracy – but it can also have significant negative or positive impacts on personal relationships. The sharing of such content fits into existing sharing behaviours; sharing the news with others is now a widespread social practice, and news is usually shared especially because stories are useful, emotions, bizarre, positive, entertaining, or exaggerated.

’Fake news’ is shared in much the same way; it fits into a category with rumours, gossip, and urban myths as they have been shared for a very long time already. But what happens when someone shares identifiably ‘fake’ news with us, or when we are ourselves caught by others sharing such content?

One reaction is to be amused and accept the sharing of such content as a joke; another is to justify sharing the content in order to warn others of ‘fake news’ stories; yet another is to explain away such sharing by the low digital literacy of the sharer.

However, sharers of ‘fake news’ may also be embarrassed by their having done so; they could also be frozen out from their social communities, however; and others in their network might feel the sharing as a betrayal of social trust within their friendship circles or social groups.

As a result, such sharers may become more cautious in future – but such care might just mean that they’ll look online for corroboration. Further, overall trust in the news might also be impacted upon – nobody is sure what to believe any more. But in the end, ‘fake news’ might also become a topic in its own right: collaborative sharing and debunking of ‘fake news’ stories could also become a social exercise that brings people together.

Such processes may be driven by expectations of reciprocity on social media; this goes for the sharing of ‘real’ as well as of ‘fake’ news. Sharing is an act of trust, which may also mean that people are more ready to forgive their friends for sharing the occasional ‘fake news’ story. But the implications for trust in the news must be further researched.