“You won’t believe what Trump says in this video!”: how young adults authenticate visual information disorder

As anybody can bypass the hierarchies of reliable information providers and reach mass audiences via social media, societies are now struggling with information disorder. Although research is critical in order to prevent the spread of information disorder, the dissemination of manipulated imagery is...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Holleufer, Sebastian Frederik
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63697/
_version_ 1848800049131159552
author Holleufer, Sebastian Frederik
author_facet Holleufer, Sebastian Frederik
author_sort Holleufer, Sebastian Frederik
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description As anybody can bypass the hierarchies of reliable information providers and reach mass audiences via social media, societies are now struggling with information disorder. Although research is critical in order to prevent the spread of information disorder, the dissemination of manipulated imagery is rarely considered even though it is more persuasive than text. This is especially worrying for young adults who primarily depend on social media to stay informed about societal news. As it is unknown whether they are able to withstand the most persuasive form of information disorder, this study hence explores how young adults evaluate the authenticity of digitally shared imagery. Through a combined use of an online survey, semi-structured interviews and focus groups targeting Danes from 15-21 years old, the study finds that young adults are critical of the dangers social media news consumption may entail and generally reluctant to share news online. Although they have a limited ability to detect manipulated imagery, they are not likely to be deceived by visual information disorder as they can use their media literacy skills to analyse the contextual, communicative and/or political factors which surround the manipulated imagery. Ergo, although the field remains largely unexplored, visual information disorder is not as dangerous as previous studies suggest.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T20:45:22Z
format Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-63697
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:45:22Z
publishDate 2021
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-636972022-03-21T14:09:31Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63697/ “You won’t believe what Trump says in this video!”: how young adults authenticate visual information disorder Holleufer, Sebastian Frederik As anybody can bypass the hierarchies of reliable information providers and reach mass audiences via social media, societies are now struggling with information disorder. Although research is critical in order to prevent the spread of information disorder, the dissemination of manipulated imagery is rarely considered even though it is more persuasive than text. This is especially worrying for young adults who primarily depend on social media to stay informed about societal news. As it is unknown whether they are able to withstand the most persuasive form of information disorder, this study hence explores how young adults evaluate the authenticity of digitally shared imagery. Through a combined use of an online survey, semi-structured interviews and focus groups targeting Danes from 15-21 years old, the study finds that young adults are critical of the dangers social media news consumption may entail and generally reluctant to share news online. Although they have a limited ability to detect manipulated imagery, they are not likely to be deceived by visual information disorder as they can use their media literacy skills to analyse the contextual, communicative and/or political factors which surround the manipulated imagery. Ergo, although the field remains largely unexplored, visual information disorder is not as dangerous as previous studies suggest. 2021-02-24 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63697/1/Master%27s%20Thesis%20-%20Sebastian.pdf Holleufer, Sebastian Frederik (2021) “You won’t believe what Trump says in this video!”: how young adults authenticate visual information disorder. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] visual information disorder information disorder visual fake news fake news manipulated imagery manipulated image manipulated video manipulation photoshop
spellingShingle visual information disorder
information disorder
visual fake news
fake news
manipulated imagery
manipulated image
manipulated video
manipulation
photoshop
Holleufer, Sebastian Frederik
“You won’t believe what Trump says in this video!”: how young adults authenticate visual information disorder
title “You won’t believe what Trump says in this video!”: how young adults authenticate visual information disorder
title_full “You won’t believe what Trump says in this video!”: how young adults authenticate visual information disorder
title_fullStr “You won’t believe what Trump says in this video!”: how young adults authenticate visual information disorder
title_full_unstemmed “You won’t believe what Trump says in this video!”: how young adults authenticate visual information disorder
title_short “You won’t believe what Trump says in this video!”: how young adults authenticate visual information disorder
title_sort “you won’t believe what trump says in this video!”: how young adults authenticate visual information disorder
topic visual information disorder
information disorder
visual fake news
fake news
manipulated imagery
manipulated image
manipulated video
manipulation
photoshop
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63697/