Curbing Dissemination of Fake News: Role of Information Verification Cost, Trust in Information, Truth-Seeking, and Fake News Awareness on Information Verification Behavior

Social media platforms have revolutionized the dissemination of information, enabling real-time citizen-driven journalism. However, this unprecedented accessibility has also facilitated the proliferation of fake news, often perpetuated by users who share information without verification. This study investigates the information verification behaviors of social media users in the context of fake news. Drawing upon the Elaboration Likelihood Model, we propose a research model to explore individuals' verification behaviors and test 11 hypotheses using a survey of active social media users. Results confirm all proposed hypotheses, revealing that online news quality, news source credibility, trust in social media information, fake news awareness, perceived cost of verification, and truth-seeking motive significantly influence information verification behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in detail in light of these findings.