MANILA, Philippines — Supporters of President Duterte, who call themselves “die-hard Duterte supporters” (DDS), are more likely to fall prey to fake news than supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo, according to new research by the Ateneo School of Governance.
“The Link Between Fake News Susceptibility and Political Polarization of the Youth in the Philippines,” a working paper by civil society group Boses, Opinyon, Siyasat, at Siyensya para sa Pilipinas, is part of the school’s broader research into misinformation on Filipino youth.
The results are based on two separate surveys (May-June and August-September) of 20,000 college students (18 years old and above) from 25 colleges and universities nationwide.
They were asked to answer a 10-point quiz wherein they would fact-check quotes supposedly attributed to the most well-known members of President Duterte’s Cabinet.
Before that, the respondents were also asked about their confidence in identifying fake news. About 63 percent said they were somewhat confident, but only scored an average of 6.9.
“There is a big mismatch between the students’ perceived ability in identifying fake news from real news, and their actual performance in the face of fake news,” explained Imelda Deinla, lead researcher for the study.