A systematic review on fake news research through the lens of news creation and consumption: Research efforts, challenges, and future directions

PLoS One. 2021 Dec 9;16(12):e0260080. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260080. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Background: Although fake news creation and consumption are mutually related and can be changed to one another, our review indicates that a significant amount of research has primarily focused on news creation. To mitigate this research gap, we present a comprehensive survey of fake news research, conducted in the fields of computer and social sciences, through the lens of news creation and consumption with internal and external factors.

Methods: We collect 2,277 fake news-related literature searching six primary publishers (ACM, IEEE, arXiv, APA, ELSEVIER, and Wiley) from July to September 2020. These articles are screened according to specific inclusion criteria (see Fig 1). Eligible literature are categorized, and temporal trends of fake news research are examined.

Results: As a way to acquire more comprehensive understandings of fake news and identify effective countermeasures, our review suggests (1) developing a computational model that considers the characteristics of news consumption environments leveraging insights from social science, (2) understanding the diversity of news consumers through mental models, and (3) increasing consumers' awareness of the characteristics and impacts of fake news through the support of transparent information access and education.

Conclusion: We discuss the importance and direction of supporting one's "digital media literacy" in various news generation and consumption environments through the convergence of computational and social science research.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Data Mining
  • Disinformation*
  • Humans
  • Information Dissemination / methods*
  • Internet
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Social Media
  • Social Sciences

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Institute of Information & communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) grant funded by the Korea government (2019-0-01584, 2020-0-01373).