DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2020.v08i04.002

Pages: 171-174

The paper examines the acceptance level and attitude towards fake news propagated through social media among common people. Social Media now a day has become one of the most easily accessible infotainment medium than Television. In Social media we can create, spread and gather fake news easily than any other media. “Fake news” is defined as to be news articles that are intentionally and verifiably false, and could mislead readers (Hunt Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow: Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election). From many studies, the youth is one among them involved in creating and spreading this kind of news. There is change in accessing the news from an authentic medium rather than from an easily accessible medium regardless of the source. With the social media acting as a vital but not foremost source of news, On an average a student is spending more than 4 hours in face book, with just over half of those who recalled seeing them repeatedly make them to believe what they consume as fake news, and discuss within their peer group or any other for authenticity. The Researcher discusses how the common man gets information on certain events (news) and why they prefer these certain formats to get informed. The study progress through the content analysis of the fake news posted and shared through social media during the emergency time of kerala flood in Palakkad (City) dist. The researcher selected 50 news posted in social media during the months of Aug 1st to Nov 30th 2018.The study reveals that there is no control over social media by the government. Some people who are less informed uses social media as a medium to post and spread the fake news. Proper education on the use of social media among youth and artificial intelligence can be practiced and applied to stop fake news being spread through social media.