Whitten-Woodring et al.
11
they cannot differentiate what is fake or actual news, especially some people in rural
areas and people with limited knowledge and limited Facebook literacy. People like my
mother. They tend to believe when they see something is written well, like some messages
using formal Burmese words and the words are typed, they think that these are official.
Fact-Checking
People displayed various fact-checking strategies. While the majority of research participants acknowledged that Facebook can be used to spread disinformation, their
methods to determine the veracity of a message varied. A Bamar man acknowledged
that some of the news on Facebook is “fake” and said he uses his instinct and his
knowledge of the sources to help him assess credibility, “I use people I trust, Facebook
of government official pages, spokespersons of political parties.” Others also relied on
their intuition. One Bamar woman said that she focuses on the tone of the Facebook
posts, “Especially if they are too one-sided and extreme, I can say they are fake.
Sometimes they manipulate photos.” A young Muslim man said he tries to confirm
viral information by finding corroborating coverage elsewhere.” If a certain issue on
Facebook is getting too big, I look for the information from other sources. [ . . . ]
Sometimes, by simply looking at a post and the way it is presented, I know whether it
is fake or not.” Many said they relied on the judgments of friends or family. One
middle-aged Christian man said he is often asked for the latest news and also to help
others determine if information is trustworthy:
I talk with some of my friends at work and also some other friends, if they want to know
some news or confirm what they learn from somewhere, they just ask me through
Messenger if something happening is true or not.
In contrast, a focus group of Facebook non-users from Kayin state showed that some
individuals believe that government information does not require fact-checking. One
respondent said, “We know they are having war- about a border issue related to people
from Bangladesh.13 We saw it on TV and heard it on radio; TV is more truthful because
it is by the government.”
Confirmation Bias
Many people we interviewed complained about selective exposure to news by
Facebook users and blamed this behavior for political ignorance and the dissemination
of disinformation. For example, one Rohingya woman said,
the coverage of local media is not fair. What local media portrayed was that the Rohingya
set their own homes on fire, like the same thing you would see on Facebook. Most people
shared such news on Facebook and the whole country believed that the Rohingya just set
their homes on fire. Only the international media say the truth. Some of the local media
just write what the majority people in Myanmar would like to see. (Italics added for
emphasis)