Teaching Older Adults How to Identify and Refute Fake News

Americans 65 and older are considered to be one of the highest demographic groups susceptible to fake news online (Moore, 2022) while simultaneously being the highest demographic group for voter turnout, with a participation rate of over two-thirds since the 1984 U.S. presidential election (O’Neill, 2022). Making Americans 65 and older the most vulnerable members of society to political misinformation and propaganda and the most impactful in terms of making unintentionally misinformed decisions when casting a vote. Fake news, misinformation, and disinformation all have different definitions despite being very similar. Fake news is “intentionally fabricated or misleading information presented as news with the aim of deceiving the public,” and misinformation is “false or inaccurate information that is unintentionally spread or shared without the intent to deceive” (Tandoc et al., 2017). On the contrary to misinformation, disinformation is “false or misleading information that is intentionally created, disseminated, or promoted with the purpose of deceiving or manipulating the public” (Tandoc et al., 2017). In this thesis paper I will be using fake news and misinformation the most. While mis/disinformation and propaganda have always existed in the political arena, with the rapid development and expansion of social media and news networks online, the spread of misinformation is at an all-time high. Although fake news targets readers of all ages, older adults share the most misinformation (Brashier & Schacter, 2020). This issue may worsen in the future as the population aged 65 and older is projected to double by 2050 (Brashier & Schacter, 2020). Some estimates suggest that in the coming years, people will consume more misinformation than accurate information (Brashier & Schacter, 2020). Teaching older adults how to identify and refute fake news is crucial to empower them with the skills needed to navigate the online information landscape effectively and to ensure a better-informed society as a whole.