"Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus”: a hoax revisited. Or: how vulnerable are school children to Fake News?

Abstract

Purpose – This paper proposes a New Literacies approach to get insight into young people’s capability to detect Fake News. Design/methodology/approach – Replication of a US empirical study in the Netherlands to examine whether schoolchildren were able to identify the spoof website Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus as a fake. Findings – In the Netherlands, only 2 out of 27 school children (7%) recognized the website as being a hoax; results that are worse, even, than those of the 2007 US study, where the website was recognized as being unreliable by slightly more than 6 out of 53 school children (11%). Research limitations/implications – A similar but large scale quantitative empirical study should be conducted in several countries to see if the trends in the US and the Netherlands are indeed significant. Practical implications – It is important to start teaching children at an early age how to critically evaluate online information. Social implications – Our perceived reliability of digital information is a hot issue, given the frequency with which fake news is circulated. Being able to critically evaluate digital information will help us to have access to trustworthy information. Originality/value – Instead of using technological fact checking by Google, Facebook and Twitter, this paper suggests the adoption of a New Literacies approach, focusing on young people’s capability to detect Fake News.