Disinformation and the senior population: Analysis of the impact of fact-checking in Spain by gender and educational level

Authors

Abstract

Disinformation significantly affects the senior population, a demographic group that often shows higher levels of vulnerability to fake news. This study explores the incidence of fact checking as a tool to mitigate the effect of disinformation among older people with special attention to the variables of gender and educational level. Responses to different types of news have been analysed using an experimental design with three symmetrical groups balanced in terms of gender, age, and geographical distribution. One group received four unverified news stories, another group received four correctly verified news stories, and the third group received four incorrectly verified news stories. The results suggest that the gender and educational level of the participants affect the reception and acceptance of information. According to the obtained data, fact-checking has greater impact on women than on men, as well as on the senior population with medium or low levels of education. Older women also show higher levels of unfamiliarity with verification platforms along with lower information consumption compared to men. The data also indicate that information consumption among the senior population is notable and that older individuals demonstrate an optimal ability to identify reliable sources to verify the information they receive. This study provides evidence on the effectiveness of fact checking in reducing the effects of disinformation in the senior population and highlights the need for media literacy strategies that consider sociodemographic differences.

Keywords

disinformation, fact-checking, senior population, gender, educational level

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/analisi.3790

Published

2025-07-31

How to Cite

Morata-Santos, M., Egaña, T., Zuberogoitia, A., & Vilasís-Pamos, J. (2025). Disinformation and the senior population: Analysis of the impact of fact-checking in Spain by gender and educational level. Anàlisi, 72, 185–202. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/analisi.3790

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Copyright (c) 2025 Montse Morata-Santos, Txema Egaña, Aitor Zuberogoitia, Júlia Vilasís-Pamos

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.