Awareness Level of Grade 12 HUMSS Students on the

Widespread Fake Information Online

Nowadays, the internet plays a vital role in maintaining

continuity in the society. In a recent data of International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), approximately 4.9 billion people
are now using the internet — which represents 63% of the world’s
population. During the Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19)
Pandemic, there has been a rise of internet users as this is the
means of communication and learning at that time. Academic
institutions offered the online modality of learning as a solution
to the then-problem with regards to the continuity of the education
in the country. Due to this, students were more exposed online
more than before as this serves as their main outlet for learning.
However, this also posed significant risks to students’ exposure
to fake information online.

Through the invention of internet, several innovations that

aims to maintain socialization and spread information were made.
One of this is social media. Social media generally refers to a
computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas,
thoughts, and information through virtual networks and communities
examples of this are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat,
Pinterest, etc.(Dollarhide, 2021). This innovation made it
possible for people to stay connected, entertained, and be informed
even at the comforts of their own home, not to mention that
communication was unbelievably fast and convenient. Information
were also widely available and accessible. People don’t have to
browse on different textbooks to get to the information you needed,
just a couple of clicks and a lot of relevant information will be
presented to you. Nonetheless, the wide availability of
information online may cause significant challenges such as
information overload that then resulted to disinformation due to
fake news becoming viral. (Menczer & Hills, 2020).

Fake information or what we know as fake news are fabricated

information that mimics news media content in form but not in
organizational process or intent. Fake news outlets, in turn, lack
the news media's editorial norms and processes for ensuring the
accuracy and credibility of information. Fake news overlaps with
other information disorders, such as misinformation (false or
misleading information) and disinformation (false information that
is purposely spread to deceive people) (Lazer, 2018, p.1094-1096).

With Philippines being the second-highest consumer of

internet worldwide, with 92.05 Million social media users or 82.4%
of its total population, it is a no brainer that the Philippines
is prone to the widespread fake information online (Kemp, 2022).
According to a study conducted by the Programme for International
Student Assessment (PISA) on 2018, Filipino youth were among the
most vulnerable to fake news. Students in Baku (Azerbaijan),
Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Philippines, and Thailand scored the lowest
(with scores lower than -0.65 points) in the index of knowledge of
reading strategies for assessing the credibility of sources
(Suarez-Alvarez, 2021). The result of this study is alarming on
today’s age wherein most rely on the information presented online.
This also shows the problem on the media and information literacy
of our youth. To lessen or even better mitigate this on-going
problem, this paper will present a comprehensive study on the level
of awareness of students towards the presence of fake information
online. This study will examine the ability of students to
distinguish fake news or fake information from not and assess how
aware students are with regards to its presence.