Fake news as video: believe 58%
Fake news as audio: believe 48%
Fake news as text: believe 33%
Fake news is better received as a video than in audio or plain text form, according to a recent study by Pennsylvania State University. When it comes to videos, users are much more likely to believe that the story is real and are also more inclined to share false information. “When you see something, you are more likely to believe it because it seems so obviously real,” explains study lead author S. Shyam Sundar, professor of media effects. This is precisely what makes fake news videos potentially particularly dangerous.
See instead of think
In one experiment, around 58 percent of participants believed that a fake news video on an instant messaging app was real. Only 48 percent were as trusting when the same story was presented as an audio file, and only 33 percent were as trustworthy when it came to a text article.
The reason for this is actually banal.
“With a text, you have to use your own imagination to put yourself in the situation or scene described in words ,” says Sundar. With a video, on the other hand, people would tend to simply believe their eyes due to information overload - without thinking about the fact that they might just be told a lie.
The study also found that people share videos more readily. A full 78 percent said in an experiment that they would do this. For an audio file and a text, the proportion was only slightly less or slightly more than two thirds. Videos are therefore more likely to go viral. However, researchers have found that who sees fake news makes a difference. In particular, people who are really deep into a topic are, in contrast to others, more likely to be deceived by text and audio fakes than by videos.
Deep fake threat
It is said that the lying barons behind various false information are increasingly able to take advantage of people's relatively high level of trust in videos. “New technologies make it easy to manipulate videos to create deep fakes,” warns Sundar. If users simply believe their eyes, it can be extremely dangerous. The media scientist points out that riots and lynchings have already occurred in India due to fake videos on social media.
For the study, the researchers showed their fake news to users in the form of WhatsApp messages, which the test subjects did not receive on their own devices. For the scientists, the risk that the stories would then be spread was too great. This would be particularly dangerous on WhatsApp. Because only intended recipients see a message there, third parties cannot counteract any false information. The researchers therefore recommend that WhatsApp users should give users a pause to think before they can forward videos.
Sources:
pte
Fake News Video | Penn State University
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )