Fake News on Social Media Networks and its Relation to Political Reluctance among the Egyptian Public

The study aims to examine the impact of the spread of fake news through social media on the level of political disengagement among the Egyptian public. It measures the extent of political disengagement among respondents in both real and virtual contexts. The study employed the media survey method to understand the effects of fake news and included a sample of 400 Egyptian participants representing various age groups and geographic locations. Key findings include that political disengagement in real life is relatively low among the majority of participants, with over 93% exhibiting low or moderate levels of disengagement, indicating that political participation remains important in their lives. Additionally, the results show that 50.2% of the sample exhibit a moderate level of political disengagement in the virtual space via social media, reflecting limited political interest characterized by moderate participation in digital political activities. Meanwhile, 37.5% of participants demonstrate low political disengagement in the virtual space, suggesting a tendency toward active involvement in political activities through social media. Conversely, only 12.2% exhibit high electronic political disengagement, representing a minority, which indicates that a significant proportion of individuals remain engaged in the digital arena to varying degrees. It also reveals a weak negative correlation between the extent of exposure to fake news on social media and the level of political disengagement in real life. Similarly, a weak negative correlation is observed between the rate of exposure to fake news and the level of political disengagement in the virtual space via social media