Perceptions and Analysis of Digital Risks

2Teenagers Faced with “Fake News”: Perceptions and the Evaluation of an Epistemic Risk

2.1. Introduction

The phenomenon referred to as fake news is causing great concern in political, journalistic, scientific and educational circles (Huyghe 2018). It revives the problem of disinformation and the risks associated with it. A catch-all word, its use is very common and yet it is challenged and even contested in the academic sphere. Although it is not a completely consolidated scientific concept, the expression fake news has a real-life basis in the media and society, which justifies its use in this study.

The objective of this research is not to propose an objective approach to fake news, but to focus on how it is perceived by a specific segment of the population: teenagers. On the face of it, it could be said that teenagers are particularly concerned by misinformation and disinformation, since they frequently use social media to learn about current events (Aillerie and McNicol 2016), and it is predominantly through these channels that fake news is broadcast (Martens et al. 2018).

Nevertheless, while the scientific literature shows that young people have difficulty evaluating whether information online is credible, or whether sources are reputable, in a rational and critical manner (Serres 2012; Sahut 2017), there is currently – to our knowledge – no work in the information and communication sciences that focuses on their perception of fake news. We have thus opted for a comprehensive ...