Age is a differential factor when discerning false news. It is not the only condition, but the citizen’s gender, level of studies or ideology also influence the credibility that a person gives to certain news and the fact that they share it with their acquaintances, but age is key and so on. This is confirmed by the study Disinformation in the senior population, from the Ideograma-UPF Chair of Political Communication, released this Thursday. Based on the interactions of a group of 1,200 people regarding different written news and published in digital format, the study concludes that men over 60 consume more information than women of that age group. At the same time, they show greater credibility in the face of information and a greater propensity to share it.
The study analyzes the ability to identify disinformation in the age group of those over 60, considered senior by sociological criteria, as well as their knowledge of verification platforms. The relationship that these platforms have with the informative credibility and the predisposition to share news was also studied.
Among the conclusions, it is highlighted that “the ability of seniors to identify misinformation is good”. Specifically, they grant greater credibility to news that has true content than false news (fake news). The possibility that they share them is closely linked to the credibility they give to the news.
It is also noteworthy that men consume a greater amount of information than women. The majority of respondents (87.99%) report at least once a day. At the same time, the study highlights that 17.58% of the participants consume information four or more times a day. It is in this group where the greatest gender gap is recorded: 15.1% of men update their information five or more times a day, compared to 8.9% of women.
Another conclusion is that information verification platforms have a greater influence on citizens when they certify the falsehood of a fact, and in that case credibility decreases significantly. However, it does not have as much effect when the reliability of content is certified.
To carry out the study, the participants were divided into three groups of 400 people each. Each of them was presented with four news items related to immigration, pensions, covid and the Ukrainian war. The stories about immigration and pensions were true, while the other two were false.
The first experimental group received the news in written digital press format without any type of verification, so that the participants valued the credibility on a Likert scale (1-5): credibility, rigor and authenticity. They were also asked to assess whether they would share the news. And they were asked how they would contrast the news with alternative media, as well as their knowledge and opinion about verification platforms. The second group was asked the same questions, but in their case they received the news within a verification platform that indicated whether they were true or false. The third group received the same as the second, but in their case they were deceived, the true news was marked as false and the false as true.
Based on the results, the study certifies that the gender gap is remarkable in terms of informative credibility, since women scored higher on the credibility of all the news that was presented to them in the field work.
A relevant piece of information is how the ideology of the participants influences when evaluating the credibility of a piece of news. Those who did not vote in the 2019 general elections are those with the highest average credibility (3.16), followed by PP (3.08) and PSOE (2.93) voters. The lowest levels are among the voters of Unidas Podemos, ERC and Junts. PP and Vox voters give more credibility to the news about immigration. The PP and PSOE voter gives more credibility to retirement. UP and Vox voters give low credibility to the news about the war in Ukraine.
The level of studies also directly influences the credibility of information and the ease with which news is shared. Those with lower education are the ones who give more credibility to all the news, while respondents with higher levels of education show lower levels of credibility. There is the same relationship between educational level and willingness to share news.
The report has been produced in collaboration with the FACCTMedia research project, based on a survey carried out by YouGov Spain during the month of October 2022.
