The role of ideology and attitude congruence in the belief of political disinformation.

Fake news is a significant and growing problem in today’s society, with serious implications for public trust, democracy, and social cohesion. This study examines the perception of AI-generated fake news, a critical aspect for understanding the current disinformation phenomenon, particularly on social media platforms. We analyse how ideology, attitudes, and ideology-information congruence influence the perceived truthfulness of politically themed fictitious headlines generated by AI. Using a sample of 204 adults, we applied non-parametric tests to explore differences and relationships between perceived truthfulness, ideology, and congruence. The results show that participants tend to believe AI-generated headlines, with ideological strength, ideology-information congruence, and political orientation playing key roles in perceived truthfulness. Given the high percentage of social media accounts managed by bots, understanding the interaction between AI, fake news, and belief in its truthfulness is crucial for combating fake news generation and spreading, as well as phenomena like polarization and disinformation.