Fatigued but engaged: what drives fake news sharing among Malaysian university students in the age of social media.

The escalation of fake news on social media platforms has surfaced as an urgent issue in Malaysia, particularly among university students who exhibit substantial engagement with digital environments. The swift propagation of misinformation presents considerable risks to public perception, societal unity, and the reliability of media outlets. Despite increasing scholarly attention, there remains a paucity of research examining the psychological and behavioral determinants that facilitate the sharing of fake news within the context of Malaysian higher education. In response to this gap, the present study meticulously explores the impact of socialization, social media fatigue, selfdisclosure, and online trust on the dissemination of fake news among university students. Employing a quantitative, crosssectional methodology, data were collected via an online survey from 449 university students across Malaysia. The measurement instrument utilized a five-point Likert scale to assess the relevant constructs, and multiple linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the proposed hypotheses. The model explained 49.8% of the variance (R² = 0.498) in fake news sharing behavior. The results indicate that socialization, social media fatigue, and selfdisclosure serve as significant predictors of fake news sharing behavior, whereas online trust did not exhibit a statistically significant relationship. This study contributes to the expanding corpus of research on misinformation by elucidating key behavioral factors influencing fake news dissemination in a Malaysian academic context. It also provides practical implications for the formulation of digital literacy initiatives and targeted awareness campaigns designed to foster responsible online behavior among the youth demographic. Future studies should broaden the participant pool beyond university students, adopt probability-based and longitudinal research designs, and integrate additional psychological and contextual factors to enhance the generalizability and comprehensiveness of the findings.