Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 22 Issue 4

Thus, we can say that the Information Society, the Internet, and other networks have driven, over the years, access to information, primarily through mobile devices. Given the unstoppable growth in the volume of data and its rapid circulation, it is crucial to take measures to ensure and guarantee widespread, accurate, verifiable, and trustworthy access to information. This article aims to identify the use, and the frequency of use of social networks in Portugal and Mexico, in times of pandemic, and in two regions of each country, respectively: Guarda and Chiapas, trying to understand if their citizens consider them a valid and reliable sources of information. In this way, we address the issue of Fake News, trying to understand the profile of these users. II. F ake N ews, a C ompany T hroughout H istory If it is true that the Information Society, on the one hand, has stimulated the creation, development, and distribution of information, it is no less accurate that the massive creation and distribution of data in social networks has given rise to a considerable amount of false information, the so-called Fake News . Questions of how, when, for what purpose, and who created them are increasingly challenging to answer due to their rapid replication across networks and between users. In recent years, the frequency of false news in the media has notably increased, negatively interfering in various sectors of society, e.g., politics, health, and security. Popular terms such as Fake News, post-truth, and disinformation have brought to light a huge problem: how can human beings verify the veracity and reliability of the information disseminated on the Internet (Sintra, 2019)? Fake News can be considered a form of publication that consists of deliberately distributing false news to promote disinformation and deceive people (Fallis, 2015; Kaplan, 2020; Merriam-Webster, 2021). Having critical and independent thinking is critical when making decisions freely. Due to its nature, content, and objective, Fake News prevents the construction of rational and well-informed judgment (Comunicación, 2018). The term Fake News can also be defined as news presented as factual, objective, and credible when, in fact, it is fictitious (Love, 2007). It is essential to mention that the term Fake News was only enhanced by the growth of technologies and access to platforms associated with the Internet, verifying documented records of its existence from the Roman Empire (Social, 2021). Thus, it allows us to say that the dissemination of false information, farce, or half- truths has always been part of humanity and can occur due to political or financial conspiracies or a lack of information or ignorance part of the population. Fake news has alarmed the scientific community, which is beginning to question to what extent it is possible to recognize the truth in the information universe (Ochando, 2018). a) Fake News: Internet and Social Networks The use of new technologies and massive access to the Internet, new habits of information consumption, and its easy exchange, provided by different platforms, allows users to distribute any type of information or news using a simple "click". This type of news does not require rigor in its production and enables the participation of different actors (Fallis, 2015). The ease with which Fake News spreads on social networks is because it is possible to disseminate misleading news merely, given that these platforms use algorithms that distribute the most relevant content for each user, ensuring that the information shown is conditioned and filtered for specific users. On the other hand, the different political interests, partisans, or simply attempt to create confusion become reasons for misleading content to go viral more frequently (IFJ, sd). The previous paradigm, in which the media had the primacy of information, has changed radically (Comunicación, 2018). Another fact related to the use of social networks and the dissemination of Fake News says that these networks provide a perfect space for the free and rapid dissemination of news according to patterns that cause different and appealing emotions to their users (Lerman, K., & Ghosh, R. 2010) (Vosoughi, S.; Roy, D.; Aral, S. 2018). According to specialists, this appeal to the most immediate emotions is one of the main characteristics of false content. In 2018, a study conducted by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Vosoughi, Roy, & Aral, 2018) has verified that false news receives 70% more retweets than truthful news on the social network Twitter. The 2020 edition of the Reuters Digital News Report mentions that 28% of Portuguese respondents and 37% of Mexicans trust the news circulating on social networks (Nielsen et al., 2020). In 2021, this same organization, together with OberCom (Observatório da Comunicação), presented a new report that identified that television and the Internet (including social networks) continue to be the primary sources of information for the Portuguese population, with a percentage of 17.4% for the Internet and 13.4% for social networks. 47.7% of the Portuguese use Facebook to access news, and 19.9% use YouTube (Journalism & OberCom, 2021). The study carried out by INEGI provides proof that 91% of Mexicans say that they access the Internet to obtain information, while 89% mention that they access social networks (INEGI, 2021). The most often Volume XXII Issue IV Version I 22 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 © 2022 Global Journals A Portugal and Mexico: An Analysis of Fake News in Times of Covid-19 Pandemic