Youth who are highly inclined to vote in the May 2022 elections have high accuracy in identifying real news, a survey jointly conducted by the Ateneo School of Government (ASOG), Boses, Opinyon, Siyasat, at Siyensya para sa Pilipinas (BOSES Pilipinas), and Participate PH.
The Pinoy Voters Vibe (PVV) survey aims to collect and communicate the voice and vote of the Filipino youth.
According to PVV, only 20.3 percent of over 7,000 youth respondents said they are "very confident" in recognizing fake news, while 61.7 percent said they are "somewhat confident", 16.1 percent answered "not very confident," and 1.9 percent said they are "not at all confident."
In the second round of the study, 63 percent of youth respondents said they are "somewhat confident" in identifying fake news but only scored an average of 6.9 out of the 10-item fake news quiz.
The survey noted that there is a "mismatch between the students' perceived ability in identifying fake news from real news and their actual performance in the face of fake news."
Meanwhile, the survey also found that a "high likelihood to vote is correlated with improved ability to identify real news."
"According to the result, the respondents who said they would vote in 2022 showed the best ability in identifying fake news," BOSES Pilipinas Convenor Imelda Deinla said in Filipino during a virtual forum hosted by ASOG.
"Those who are politically engaged, especially those , would actively seek a variety of good information in order for more likely seeking real news. This means that seeing or seeking real news can stimulate political awareness and engagement," Deinla added.
She furthered that respondents who trust social media have more difficulty separating fake information from real news.
Fake news and political polarization
Deinla noted that fake news cause political polarization.
"Studies in the Philippines show that political polarization is not driven by ideologies or political parties because we know that there's no difference between parties in the Philippines. It's driven by rhetoric or political statements of politicians," Deinla added.
The survey also found that pro-Duterte youth are more likely to believe fake news compared to those supporting Leni Robredo.
"The survey demonstrates that respondents who support the Duterte administration are more likely to believe fake news and not real news. Meanwhile, respondents who support the opposition are more likely to identify what's real news and fake news," Deinla added.
PVV was initially conducted in two rounds. The first round was conducted from May 17 to June 24 in 18 colleges and universities with 7,744 respondents, while the second round was conducted from August 23 to Sept. 4 in 25 colleges and universities with 24,625 respondents.
Meanwhile, the third round will be held in 2022.