This study aims to understand the factors undermining people's perception towards curbing the spread of fake news. It taps on the bystander model to map out the possible reasons underlying people's decisions with regards to fake news. This study is part of a poster presentation at ACCOP 2019 and the following slides provides more information about the study.

1. Understanding why
people do not
intervene in the
spread of fake news
Heng Hong TANa,b, Loo Seng NEOa,c,
and Xingyu CHENa
aHome Team Behavioural Sciences Centre,
bNgee Ann Polytechnic,
cNanyang Technological University
Poster presentation at 2019 ACCOP
Accurate as of 19 June 2019 1

2. Caveat
▸Tan, H. H., Neo, L. S., & Chen, X. K. (2019, July).
Understanding why people do not intervene in the spread of
fake news. Poster session presented at the 4th Asian
Conference of Criminal & Operations Psychology,
Singapore.
Citation
▸Views expressed here are the author’s own and do not
reflect the official stance of the Ministry of Home
Affairs.
2

3. 1.
INTRODUCTION
3

4. Threat of fake news
▸Fake news undermines social harmony and influences political
processes around the world (Chen et al., 2018)
▸The threat is exacerbated due to the pervasiveness of the internet
and social media
▹ In Singapore, there are 4.388 million internet users and
89% visit social media websites (Kemp, 2019)
▹ 53% rely on online news as their main source of
information (Newman, Fletcher, Kalogeropoulos, Levy, & Nielsen,
2017)
▸ Measures have been taken by the authorities  a fact-checking
website “Factually” has been created (Soon & Goh, 2017),
hackathon competitions has been organised (Yang, 2017) and an
Act against fake news – Protection from Online Falsehoods and
Manipulation Act has been passed (Mokhtar & Lim, 2019)
▹ However, there is a need for community to be part of the
solution.
4

5. How can the community help?
▸Flagging allows social media users and platforms to tag false
information  alerts other readers and allows false information to be
debunked (Haciyakupoglu, Hui, Suguna, Leong, & Rahman, 2018)
▸However, there is a lack of action by the community
▹ Instead of reporting, people ignore fake news (Wenzel, 2019)
▹ 20% of Singaporeans actively tried to avoid news due to
distrust towards news and effort needed for verifying them
(Newman et al., 2017)
▸With fake news staying uncorrected, citizens will remain wrongly
informed (Bakir & McStay, 2017)
5

6. Need to understand the lack of
action
▸Bystander literature provides some insights about conditions where
individuals intervene in emergencies (Latané & Darley, 1970)
▸Bystander intervention model:
1. Notice the problem
2. Interpret it as an emergency
3. Assume a degree of responsibility
4. Select a course of action
5. Perform the selected action
▸ This can potentially be used to understand people’s inaction towards
intervening in the spread of fake news
6

7. Research question
▸This study aims to understand why people do not intervene
in the spread of fake news
▸How this study adds value:
▹ Lack of empirical studies on the reasons why people
don’t take action against fake news circulation
▹ Findings can inform policies and interventions in the
future
7

8. 2.
METHODOLOGY
• Sampling
• Procedure
8

9. Sampling
▸300 responses were collected from 106 males and 194
females
▸Average age is 25.94 years (SD = 10.83)
▸Majority graduated from Junior College, Polytechnic or the
Institute of Technical Education (ITE) (43.3%)
▸Convenience sampling was adopted for this study
9

10. 10
Procedure
▸Data was collected through Google forms
▸Questionnaire consisted of 19 items:
▹ (i) 17 items measure the five stages of the bystander intervention
model (Latané & Darley, 1970; Neo, Pang, & Chin, 2018); and (ii) 2 items
measure the general perception of fake news
▹ Scale reliability: α = 0.86
▸The survey contains close-ended and open-ended questions (i.e., coded by
the authors).
▸Survey took approximately 5 minutes to complete and it was done on a
voluntary basis
▸Participants were assured of the confidentiality of their responses and they
can drop out at any point if they feel uncomfortable
▸In this paper, fake news is defined as any news that is inaccurate,
misleading or fabricated and distributed through various forms of
communication including print, text messages, or social media (Chen et al., 2018:
Tandoc, Lim, & Ling, 2017)

11. 3.
RESULTS
11

12. 1. Do people know what fake news is?
▸91.7% were able to define
what is fake news
▸70.7% were able to
provide relevant examples
of fake news
12
▸Questions that were asked

13. 2. Questions relating to the awareness
of fake news
1
2
5
9
41
2
15
45
102
8
45
133
117
89
141
112
38
201
94
I am aware that there is
fake news in Singapore
I am aware of how to spot
fake news
I know that fake news can
spread easily
I know that fake news is
hard to counter
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
150
▸Respondents are highly aware of fake news
0 300
13

14. 3. Questions relating to interpreting
fake news as an emergency
5
2
1
12
13
5
4
41
75
41
21
126
126
128
121
116
84
125
154
I am aware of the
consequences of fake news
I feel that it is necessary for
me to play a part in
countering fake news
I believe that stopping fake
news from spreading will
help to keep our community
safe
I feel that it is important for
fake news to be countered
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
150
▸A majority of respondents interpret fake news as an
emergency
0 300
14

15. 4. Questions relating to responsibility
10
5
26
6
21
30
56
39
72
80
105
77
115
115
80
122
82
70
33
56
I believe that it is my
responsibility to take actions
against fake news by stopping
them from spreading
I feel responsible to notice and
stop the spread of fake news
I feel guilty if I do not stop the
spread of fake news
I feel that there is a need for
me to stop people from
spreading fake news
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
150
▸Respondents perceived a moderate level of personal
responsibility for curbing the spread of fake news
0 300
15

16. 5. Willingness to curb the spread of
fake news
5 26 87 101 81If you come across
fake news, will you
stop it from
spreading?
Highly unlikely Unlikely Neutral Likely Highly likely
150
▸Respondents reported a moderate amount of willingness to
curb the spread of fake news
0 300
16

17. 6. What are the ways you can help to
counter fake news?
3
4
4
5
8
16
23
41
70
82
92
Irrelevant
No answer
Unaware
View reliable websites only
Ignore
Share reliable news
Education
Report
Inform others
Factcheck
Don't share it
• Majority would counter fake news by not sharing it
17

18. 7. Who would you report fake
news to if you were to see it?
1
1
2
4
7
9
10
11
12
22
33
33
52
55
56
SG Secure
Teachers
Factcheckers
Irrelevant
Media outlet
Parties involved
No answer
Government
Sender of news
Family and friends
No one
Relevant authorities
Police
Not sure
Social media platforms
• People have varying ideas of who to report fake news to
• A large number of respondents are unsure of who to report fake news
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19. 8. Why would people not stop
fake news?
1
10
10
14
16
17
22
22
23
33
Irrelevant
Depends on the effort
needed
No reason
Depends on ability to stop
it
Depends on the
relationship with spreader
Diffusion of responsibility
Unable to make a
difference
Impact on self
Indifferent
Unaware of how to stop it
• Most people do not know how to stop fake news
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20. Summary of findings
Generally, respondents:
• Know what fake news is (e.g., 91.7% were able to define what fake news is).
• Are aware of fake news (e.g., 96.7% know that fake news can spread easily).
• Interpret fake news as an emergency (e.g., 91.7% feel that it is important for fake
news to be countered).
However, results suggest that curbing the spread of fake news is moderately
perceived to be one’s personal responsibility (e.g., 61.7% feel responsible to notice and stop
the spread of fake news).
Respondents also reported a moderate level of willingness to stop the spread of
fake news (60.7%).
Respondents highlighted many ways to counter fake news, and the most
common way is to not share the fake news (26.4%), followed by fact-checking the
source of the fake news (23.5%).
• Many are unsure of who to report fake news to (17.9%).
• Many do not know how to stop the spread of fake news (19.6%). 20

21. 4.
DISCUSSION
21

22. Implications for mitigating the
spread of fake news
Raise awareness amongst the public to flag fake news on social
media platforms
• These flagging features can be found in nearly all user-
generated content including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc.
Outreach messages should instil a sense of responsibility among the
public to take notice and stop the spread of fake news
• Educate the public that their actions (i.e., flag fake news) can
make a difference in stopping the spread of fake news.
• Studies have shown that people are tasked to fact-check,
spot inconsistencies, and correct inaccuracies, the
influence of fake news on them is reduced (Rapp et al., 2014).
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23. Conclusion
Limitations
Self-reported data  Reflects attitudes rather than actual behaviours
▸ Future research can combine this with other sources of information to
give a clearer picture of this phenomenon
▸ This is a preliminary analysis to identify reasons why people don’t stop
the spread of fake news
▹ A good starting point for future studies to understand the
phenomenon of fake news
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24. Research Team
Ms Tan Heng Hong
Research Intern at HTBSC
Email: tanhenghong123@gmail.com
Mr Neo Loo Seng
Principal Behavioural Sciences Research Analyst at HTBSC
PhD candidate at NTU
Email: NEO_Loo_Seng@mha.gov.sg
Mr Chen Xingyu Ken
Behavioural Sciences Research Analyst at HTBSC
Email: Xingyu_Chen_from.tp@mha.gov.sg Thank you!
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25. References
Bakir, V., & McStay, A. (2017). Fake news and the economy of emotions. Digital Journalism, 6(2), 154–175.
doi:10.1080/21670811.2017.1345645
Chan, M. S., Jones, C. R., Hall Jamieson, K., & Albarracín, D. (2017). Debunking: a meta-analysis of the psychological efficacy of
messages countering misinformation. Psychological science, 28(11), 1531–1546. doi: 10.1177/0956797617714579
Chen, X. K. (2018). Fake news after a terror attack: psychological vulnerabilities exploited by fake news creators. In M. Khader, L. S.
Neo, D. D., Cheong, & J. Chin (Eds.), Learning from violent extremist attacks: behavioural sciences insights for practitioners
and policymakers. Singapore: World Scientific.
Chen, X., Tan, J., Goh, P., Ong, G., & Khader, M. (2018). Frequently Asked Questions about Fake News. (HTBSC Research Report
S02/2018). Singapore: Home Team Behavioural Sciences Centre
Haciyakupoglu, G., Hui, J. Y., Suguna, V. S., Leong, D., & Muhammad, F. (2018). Countering fake news: a survey of recent global
initiatives (Policy Report). Retrieved from https://www.rsis.edu.sg/wp-
content/uploads/2018/03/PR180307_Countering-Fake-News.pdf
Kemp, S. (2019). Digital in 2019. We Are Social. Retrieved from https://wearesocial.com/blog/2019/01/digital-2019-global-internet-
use-accelerates
Latané, B., & Darley, J. M. (1970). The unresponsive bystander: Why doesn’t he help? Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Neo, L. S., Pang, J. S., & Chin, J. (2018). Bystander intervention to prevent radicalisation. In M. Khader, L. S. Neo, D. D., Cheong, & J.
Chin (Eds.), Learning from violent extremist attacks: behavioural sciences insights for practitioners and
policymakers. Singapore: World Scientific.
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26. References
Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Kalogeropoulos, A., Levy, D. A. L., & Nielsen, R. K. (2017). Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2017. Reuters
Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Rapp, D. N., Hinze, S. R., Kohlhepp, K., & Ryskin, R. A. (2014). Reducing reliance on inaccurate information. Memory & Cognition,
42(1), 11-26. doi: 10.3758/s13421-013-0339-0
Soon, C. & Goh, S. (2017). What lies beneath the truth: A literature review on fake news, false information and more. Institute of Policy
Studies. Retrieved from https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/default-source/ips/report_what-lies-beneath-the-truth_a-
literature-review-on-fake-news-false-information-and-more_300617.pdf
Tandoc, E. C., Lim, Z. W., & Ling, R. (2017). Defining "fake news": A typology of scholarly definitions. Digital Journalism, 6(2), 137-153. doi:
10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143
Wenzel, A. (2019). To verify or to disengage: Coping with "fake news" and ambiguity. International Journal of Communication, 13, 1977-
1995. Retrieved from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/10025/2636
Yang, C. (2017, October 15). Hackathon sprouts ideas to tackle fake news. The Straits Times. Retrieved from
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/hackathon-sprouts-ideas-to-tackle-fake-news
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