Adolescents’ Vulnerability to Fake News and to Racial Hoaxes: A Qualitative Analysis on Italian Sample

Abstract

Following the Digital Revolution, we are witnessing an increase in the number of manipulated sources of information. For this reason, virtual environments can be a breeding ground for the proliferation of prejudices and stereotypes, resulting from the spread of racial fallacious news, known as ‘racial hoaxes’. Adolescents may be more susceptible due to the tense and complicated relationship between their experience with digital platforms and the development of their relatively limited critical thinking. In this landscape, in order to explore the features of disinformation in adolescence, the research involved 41 Italian adolescents between 13 and 16 years old, balanced by gender and school education. The teenagers took part in the focus group discussions on the topic of online information preferences, fake news and racial hoaxes, which were analyzed by means of content analysis. The answers given by participants show a so-called adolescents’ perception of ‘misinformation invulnerability’ that can influence their credulity in fake news, since they are aware of fake news but they are not so able to recognize or remember it.

How Personal Values Count in Misleading News Sharing with Moral Content

“…This result is in line with other findings attesting that conservatives are more likely to believe false news [ 57 ]. Regarding this research field, we add and argue the importance of taking into account not only the political orientation but also the moral contents of biased news [ 58 , 59 ]. The interaction between communication contents and individual values can exacerbate negative reactions by hindering resistance to misinformation; people could further reinforce their own conservative moral principles by believing in overwhelming moral misleading news.…”

Policy responses to false and misleading digital content

“…Although there are studies suggesting that individuals with higher income and higher education status (e.g. a university degree) are less likely to accept and spread misinformation (Pan, Liu and Fang, 2021 [84]; Khan and Idris, 2019 [85]), the profile of a vulnerable individual is much more individualised. For example, political affiliation also plays a role.…”

SARA Hoax: Phenomena, Meaning, and Conflict Management

“…The news that China will attack Indonesia and Jokowi prefers Chinese workers is considered by an informant from the city of Padang as a hoax created to create hatred among Indonesians towards immigrants from China, including ethnic Chinese Indonesians. Racial hoaxes create discriminatory attitudes towards minority groups (Papapicco et al, 2022). Third, news or information that does not have supporting or ongoing information.…”

“…Meanwhile, another informant decided not to have a relationship (friend) with his interaction partner. The spread of hoaxes or fake news has a negative impact on interpersonal relationships (Papapicco et al, 2022).…”

“…Similar research to this study was conducted by Concetta Papapicco, Isabella Lamanna, and Francesca D'Errico, who studied racial hoaxes that were directed at immigrants. The sample of the study was teenagers aged 13 to 16 years, which resulted in two groups who believed in the existence of racial hoaxes and groups who did not know about racial hoaxes (Papapicco et al, 2022).…”