Influence of the educational level on the spreading of Fake News regarding the energy field in the online environment

For the last couple of decades, the social and economic dynamics of our society have evolved in an exponential rhythm creating innovation and new opportunities which contribute to social welfare and comfort. Unfortunately, this continued progress, especially in the field of digitalisation, is also accompanied by challenges. One of these refers to cybersecurity and the uncontrolled spreading of fake content. The emergence of the Internet, alongside the development of new communication instruments and platforms, has determined major changes in the way people interact with each other. Moreover, the structure of the online environment facilitates the spreading of unverified or false content. Even specialized fields like the wood industry, the banking sector, the pharmaceutical industry or the energy field can become targets of misinformation campaigns, implemented in the online environment. Furthermore, in a context in which, in recent years, major political, economic and social events have been negatively influenced by the dissemination of fake news, the combat of this phenomenon has become a priority on the European Agenda. This fact is being reinforced by the growing number of scientific articles and researches that address this issue, but also by the budget of almost 5 million euro allocated in 2018 by the European Union for the combat of misinformation and false news. In this regard, it is important to better understand the factors that determine the appearance and spreading of fake news. By analysing the roots, the main sources and the patterns of fake news, we will be able to elaborate efficient tools in order to fight against the spreading of this phenomenon. The objective of this study is to analyse if the educational level of online users is one of the factors which directly influences the acceptance and the spreading of fake news, especially when dealing with specialized content such as information regarding the Romanian energy field.