Perceptions of News Sharing and Fake News in Singapore
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Fake news is a prevalent problem that can undermine citizen engagement and become an obstacle to the goals of civic tech. To understand consumers' reactions and actions towards fake news, and their trust in various news media, we conducted a survey in Singapore. We found that fake news stem largely from instant messaging apps and social media, and that the problem of fake news was attributed more to its sharing than to its creation. Verification of news was done mainly by using a search engine to check and cross-reference the news. Amongst the top three sources to obtain news, there was low trust reported in social media, high trust in local news channels, and highest trust in government communication platforms. The strong trust in government communication platforms suggests that top-down civic tech initiatives may have great potential to effectively manage fake news and promote citizen engagement in Singapore.
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