War of the Words: How Individuals Respond to “Fake News,” “Misinformation,” “Disinformation,” and “Online Falsehoods”

ABSTRACT

While some argue the term “fake news” has lost its meaning and should be discarded from academic lexicon, others say the term has conceptual utility and one that the public understands. This study revisits these arguments and compares how individuals respond to the term “fake news” with how they respond to other related terms, such as “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “online falsehoods.” Through an online survey involving a representative sample of 1,015 adult participants in Singapore, this study found that participants who saw the term “fake news” reported the highest level of perceptions of falsity and intentionality. The term “fake news” also elicited the highest level of concern, perceived severity, and treatment recommendation, although the terms “misinformation” and “online falsehoods” also displayed similar levels, while “disinformation” elicited the lowest ratings.

KEYWORDS:

• Disinformation
• fake news
• falsehoods
• framing
• misinformation
• public opinion

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Education - Singapore: [grant no RG150/18]; Singapore Social Science Research Council: [grant no MOE2018-SSRTG-022].