Poll Results
KUALA LUMPUR, 14 June 2021: The UCSI Poll Research Centre recently released a poll result on the topic related to fake news. The poll was conducted among 1116 Malaysian consisting of 52.3% female and 47.7% male in Malaysia. The margin of sampling error for this sample size was +/- 3%.
The respondents were asked how often they initially believed the fake news that they saw. 48% of the respondents chose sometimes, 31% of the respondents chose rarely, 14% of the respondents chose frequently, and 6% of the respondents chose never.
When asked about the platform they have received fake news, and the results as following
The respondents were further asked on their actions taken during the last year due to fake news, and the results as following
The respondents were also asked if they are aware that there is an ordinance that seeks to criminalise “fake news” relating to Covid-19 and the emergency proclamation effective from March 12, 2021. Among the respondents from this survey, 67.4% said Yes and 32.6% said No. They were further asked if they feel that the ordinance is necessary in battling the spread of “fake news”, 80.2% said Yes and 19.8% said No.
The survey shows that most of the respondents exposed to fake news especially on social media and communication applications. This is worrisome as 62% of the respondents may frequently (14%) or sometimes (48%) initially believed the fake news that they saw.
However, the actions taken by respondents show that the awareness in battling fake news from public remain low. The respondents are remaining high trust from the information received from communication applications and low efficacy in using news fact checking website (eg. Sebenarnya.my).
We are receiving mass volume of information daily in this digital era, and some information may consists of partially or fully untruth. We are expecting freedom and not isolated from information due to law and policies. The wisdom of users and fact checking of information received is a better way to protect ourselves from fake news.
About UCSI Poll Research Centre The UCSI Poll Research Centre (UCSI-PRC) is a public opinion research company owned by the UCSI Group. Its main objective is to utilise original and scientific research methodologies to investigate and analyse public opinions and attitudes.
