Folk theories of false information
A mixed-methods study in the context of Covid-19 in Turkey
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12656343 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Suncem Kocer (0000-0001-5507-2448, Koç University, corresponding author), Bahadır Öz, Gülten Okçuoğlu (Kadir Has University), Fezal Tapramaz (Istanbul University) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 5877-5897 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Media & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14614448221142310 |
| OpenAlex | W4312179067 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 41 |
This study explores how media users define false information in the daily flow of their lives against a backdrop of sociopolitical contexts. We focus on the vernacular definitions of false information through the concept of folk theories, which are the intuitive explanatory tools users develop to make sense of and act in the world around them. Based on mixed-method research conducted in Turkey during the Covid-19 pandemic, we identify three prevailing folk theories of false information. First, users consider text-based characteristics, such as the presence of evidence as a flag of accuracy/inaccuracy. Second, users assume that people in their social networks distinguish between the accurate and the inaccurate, and thus the information coming from these circles is accurate. Finally, users imagine that people whose worldviews conflict with theirs spread inaccurate information. Despite users’ overarching references to textual traits of news, it appears that the latter two folk theories drive users’ information processing practices in daily life
Context (archaeology · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Epistemology · Focus (optics · Linguistics · Social media · Sociology · Vernacular · World Wide Web · Computer Science · History · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Rhetoric and Communication Studies
Have beliefs in conspiracy theories increased over time?
How People Form Folk Theories of Social Media Feeds and What it Means for How We Study Self-Presentation
The Reception of Fake News
"Algorithms ruin everything"
First I "like" it, then I hide it
The Interpretation of Cultures
Perceptions of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation amid the Covid-19 pandemic
Skeptical Inertia in the Face of Polarization
Polymedia
Mapping Recent Development in Scholarship on Fake News and Misinformation, 2008 to 2017
Digital media, political polarization and challenges to democracy
Contemporary Conspiracy Culture
Turkey’s communicative authoritarianism
Audiences’ acts of authentication in the age of fake news
Analyzing change in network polarization
A systematic literature review on disinformation
Birds of a Feather Tweet Together
Political agency of news outlets in a polarized media system
Folk theories of algorithms
Folk Theories of Journalism
Qualitative media diaries
Doing Team Ethnography
Fake news as a two-dimensional phenomenon
Folk theories of algorithmic recommendations on Spotify
Polarization and the Global Crisis of Democracy
Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election
Qualitative and Mixed Methods Social Media Research
Concepts and Folk Theories
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |