Media and fake news: An analysis of citizens’ attitudes toward misinformation in European countries

Abstract

The present work aims at analysing the attitude of European citizens toward fake news and disinformation. After briefly discussing the growing literature on fake news and disinformation, by virtue of the availability of micro-data from the Flash Eurobarometer survey on “Fake news and disinformation online” (European Commission, 2018), a segmentation of users is proposed according to their attitude towards different types of media. Secondly, clusters are characterized both in terms of socio-demographic characteristics and in relation to users’ behaviour and opinions regarding misinformation. In consideration of the social and political relevance of misinformation, potential strategies to face with fake news and online misinformation are discussed.