In South Korea, the most common route to access the so-called “fake news” and misinformation is YouTube, a video streaming site owned by the world’s biggest search engine Google, a survey found

During a seminar hosted by Korean Association for Broadcasting & Telecommunication Studies and Korean Psychological Association on Wednesday, Yonsei University professor Lee Sang-woo said 22 percent of 555 people aged over 20 responded in a survey that Youtube is the biggest source of spreading unconfirmed news, followed by acquaintances (15 percent), Facebook (12 percent), messengers like KakaoTalk (12 percent), TV news program (12 percent) and internet news (11 percent).

“YouTube has its own positive impacts by spreading political information, suggesting various points of views and delivering straightforward messages,” said Lee. But it is also under fire for becoming a hotbed of fake news and misinformation by disseminating one-sided and fabricated stories with eye-catching headlines and edits, he added.

Lee also said YouTube has been replacing Ilbe Storehouse, a far right-wing website in the country filled with provocative postings, to become the largest source of misleading information.

“Fake news” is a term that was first used by U.S. President Donald Trump during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Since then, even mainstream news stories have been often accused as fake news while rumor-based fabricated news have been springing up everywhere in the world in line with a surge in social media use, emerging as a major social issue.

Citing its negative impact to the public, some experts have suggested imposing regulations on social media content.

The poll, however, showed that opinions were almost evenly split over the necessity of government control on YouTube content in Korea, with 46 percent in favor of regulation while 44 percent against it. The opinions were divided depending on political orientation, as 62 percent of respondents calling themselves liberal supported the control while 69 percent of conservative respondents opposed it. For people who said they are neither liberal nor conservative, 46 percent voted in favor of it.

If regulations on fake news are to be put in place, most of the respondents said the authors of the fake news should be punished by giving the answer 4.1 points out of 5. It was followed by government regulations on companies (3.68) and voluntary restrictions by firms (3.66).

By Shin Chan-ok and Choi Mira

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