Digital Literacy and Vulnerability to Misinformation

Evidence from Facebook Users in Pakistan

Abstract

Lack of digital literacy can be a major barrier towards improving the informational well-being of Internet users. Using a field survey of 674 Facebook users in urban Pakistan, we find significant differences in individuals' ability to use common Facebook features. We find that digital literacy is lower among older, less educated, lower income and female users, which points to barriers faced by different demographic groups in improving their digital literacy. Moreover, lower digital literacy is associated with worse truth discernment, lower sharing of true news, emotional reactions to online content, but not more confirmation bias.