Online information credibility among teenagers in Malaysia

Information plays a significant role in delivering society's input, ideas, and opinions. However, the rise of fake information has led towards misinformation in society. Current global issues regarding the COVID-19 outbreak include various kinds of fake news and inaccurate information that have been spread widely. Therefore, this study would like to explore the evaluation criterion of online information by assessing the youth information behaviour toward the credibility of online information among teenagers in Malaysia. The Radical Change Theory has been adopted in the development of a conceptual framework in the process of identifying the variable's relationship with online information credibility among teenagers. A quantitative approach was selected to assess the credibility of online information among teenagers. The findings show a positive relationship between youth information behaviour that consists of three principles: interactivity, connectivity and access and online information credibility, which contains accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage. Individuals with high information credibility will carefully choose and select the information content on the website. Through the findings, the teenager is aware of the significance of choosing the right information; however, the teenager should be extra cautious about fake news, which makes it difficult to know the right and wrong information. The possible collaboration with the Ministry of Education in achieving the quality of education by enhancing the understanding of teenagers in evaluating online information in the future is in line with the Strategic Plan 2024-2030, Ministry of Education for the Strategic Pillar No 1 (Increase Access and Quality of Education)