How people perceive influence of fake news and why it matters

ABSTRACT Employing theoretical frameworks regarding people’s perception of media effects (e.g. third-person effect), this study examines how people perceive the effects of fake news, what may lead to these perceptions, and how people act on them. Findings from an online survey provide evidence that people perceive fake news to have negative influence on themselves and others, with greater influence on others than themselves. This study revealed that the extended internal political efficacy scale – the conventional internal political efficacy scale with a measure specific to fake news – serves as an antecedent of the perceived influence of fake news on oneself, others, and the self-other perceptual disparity. Further, the perceptions of fake news effects on oneself and others, separately and jointly, were significantly associated with several likely behaviors including support for fake news regulation, social media withdrawal, and information sharing on social media.