Abstract:
This exploratory study sought to understand the existence of partisan
mis/disinformation by examining how the UPM-CAS youth respond to fake news and
why. Using a mixed-methods approach in an exploratory-sequential design and
combining results from a survey involving 316 respondents with a series of interviews
with 12 participants, this study found that the plurality response among Facebook users
from the University of the Philippines Manila - College of Arts and Sciences is to report
fake news posts so it gets removed. The findings of this study focused on the period of
the 2022 National Presidential Election from February to May 2022 which was a
significant time for the country because it opened the political sphere to digital
disinformation which hugely affected the electoral process, especially on Facebook. The
researchers also found the impact of the youth’s responses to the existence of fake
news on Facebook. This study concludes that the plurality of the respondents choose
the option of reporting the post so it gets removed as the most viable option in
eradicating the proliferation of fake news. Furthermore, it also reveals that there is a
significant correlation between being a UP student and the respondents’ perception of
social issues such as fake news and the way they respond to it. considering that they
make up the majority of the voters during the 2022 elections.
