Does information literacy help to mitigate misinformation in post-truth era?

Abstract

The participatory nature of social media is a contributing factor to the rapid spread of unfiltered information. Information literacy (IL) is considered a strong tool to fight back the rise of misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, fake news, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories leading the world into the post-truth era. This study is intended to find out how and why educated citizens of Pakistan use social media. It further enquires about their concerns regarding misinformation on social media, their IL skills, and their intentions to combat misinformation. Drawing upon the post-positivist paradigm, the study adopted a quantitative approach. A structured questionnaire was adapted and administered online through Facebook, WhatsApp, and email. The findings revealed that the participants spent a good amount of their time per day on social media. To pass the time, finding and sharing information and staying in touch were the main reasons for using social media. The respondents often encountered misinformation over social media but appeared less concerned about cross-checking the information to ensure its authenticity. Moreover, they seemed less bothered to consult any fact-checking website to verify the doubted social media content or news. The results indicated a low IL rate among the participants while indicating a positive correlation and significant positive effect of IL skills on misinformation combating intentions. Insights gained from the study provide a basis for designing and programming effective IL interventions to better equip citizens with cognitive abilities to detect and mitigate misinformation hence, be instrumental in improving the flow of quality information on social media