“Save the Pacific Northwest tree octopus”: a hoax revisited. Or: How vulnerable are school children to fake news?

Purpose This paper aims to propose a new literacies approach to get insight into young people’s capability to detect fake news. Design/methodology/approach This study is a replication of a US empirical study in The Netherlands to examine whether schoolchildren were able to identify the spoof website “Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus” as fake. Findings In The Netherlands, only 2 out of 27 school children (7 per cent) recognized the website as being a hoax; results that are worse, even, than those of the 2007 US study, where the website was recognized as being unreliable by slightly more than 6 out of 53 school children (11 per cent). Research limitations/implications A similar but large-scale quantitative empirical study should be conducted in several countries to see if the trends in the US and The Netherlands are indeed significant. Practical implications It is important to start teaching children at an early age how to critically evaluate online information. Social implications The perceived reliability of digital information is a hot issue, given the frequency with which fake news is circulated. Being able to critically evaluate digital information will help to have access to trustworthy information. Originality/value Instead of using technological fact checking by Google, Facebook and Twitter, this paper suggests the adoption of a new literacies approach, focusing on young people’s capability to detect fake news.