Edinburgh Napier University

  From the start of the twenty-first century, online views and clicks have only increased. Within the last twenty years that has embedded through the use of social media. Within the last ten years news can spread on social media before it is shown on traditional mainstream news channels. On average there are around four billion users which accounts half of the population who spend time on social media. There is an approximate 10% increase yearly that users spend around 2.5 hours on social media per day on average.

Fake news is a major trending topic on all social media platforms at any given time. Fake news is a new area of study that receives a lot of interest from both the academic community and media professionals. It is one of the leading terms for all search engines and social media platforms that are available. With techniques and terms, such as satire news, yellow journalism, junk news, pseudo-news, advertorial, misleading information, and fake information, the actual truth can be disguised in many formats. From politicians to celebrities to civil service workers, people use social media to clear their names with the hashtag ‘#sFakeNews’. 62% of US adults get news on social media. This study aims to identify the meanings of fake news and other related concepts and explore the recent trend of research on them and how to spot fake news.