Effect of Fake News Awareness as an Intervention Strategy for Motivating News Verification Behaviour Among Social Media Users in Nigeria: A Quasi-Experimental Research

Abstract

This study tests the effect of fake news awareness as an intervention strategy for motivating news verification behaviour among social media users in Nigeria. A quasi-experiment was utilized with 470 participants divided into two groups, comprising the control group, n = 235, and the treatment group, n = 235. Fake news awareness was found to be an effective intervention strategy used to intensify the urgency and need to verify news before sharing. Individuals exposed to fake news awareness campaigns reported a more positive attitude towards news verification, better self-efficacy towards verification and were more concerned about their reputation on social media.