Voters are more vulnerable to believing fake news stories if they match their own personal worldviews or ideologies, according to a new University College Cork study analysing the 2018 Eighth Amendment vote.

It found that people are 14 times more likely to claim they remember a fake story if it matches their own beliefs.

The study, by University College Cork’s Dr Gillian Murphy, was one of the largest of its kind ever carried out in Ireland.

With concerns about fake news growing, the research suggests that everyone is susceptible to false news stories – especially if they appeal to pre-existing beliefs.

The research, which took place in the weeks leading up to voting day, used the 2018 referendum to find out how likely people were to believe and “remember” fake stories.

“The implications for upcoming elections are that voters are vulnerable to not just believing a fake news story, but falsely recalling that the event truly happened,” Murphy said.

“Warnings don’t seem to help and so we need to develop new strategies to combat this problem,” she added.