Volunteers (0)  WERE shown fabricated news reports in the week before Ireland's 2018 abortion law referendum. Nearly half of them subsequently claimed to (1) Cloze (1): JXUwMDEwJXUwMDA5JXUwMDE3JXUwMDEz had prior memories of at least one of the made-up events detailed. And many failed to question their false recollections even after (2) Cloze (2): JXUwMDFhJXUwMDA3JXUwMDBjJXUwMDA3JXUwMDA5 told the articles they had read might be fake. The 3,140 participants would have been more likely to have created false memories if the reports had lied about the side they had opposed, the study added. The peer-reviewed work supports prior research (3)  Cloze (3): JXUwMDI0JXUwMDMzJXUwMDAxJXUwMDMyJXUwMDM1JXUwMDA3JXUwMDFhJXUwMDFiJXUwMDMzJXUw MDNkJXUwMDAzJXUwMDBkJXUwMDFhJXUwMDAxJXUwMDI4 the phenomenon. But its authors say it is the first time the problem has been tested in relation to a real-world referendum at the time it was being held.

One of the academics told BBC News it highlighted (4) Cloze (4): JXUwMDEwJXUwMDA3JXUwMDE4 difficult it could be to "undo" spurious memories once they had been created. "Memory is a reconstructive process and we are vulnerable to suggestion distorting our recollections, without our conscious awareness," Dr Gillian Murphy, of University College Cork, said. "The implications for any upcoming elections are that voters are vulnerable to not just believing a fake news story (5) Cloze (5): JXUwMDFhJXUwMDE3JXUwMDAx also falsely recalling that the made-up event truly happened."

Facebook used to display red warning flags alongside news stories third-party websites had judged to be fake news. But it changed the strategy after saying it could strengthen deeply held beliefs (6) Cloze (6): JXUwMDBhJXUwMDEzJXUwMDE1JXUwMDFjJXUwMDBkJXUwMDE3 than calling them into question. Instead, it and other social networks now aim to limit the spread of fake stories, provide wider context and shut down state-backed propaganda accounts. Even so, one UK-based fact-checking charity said more needed to be done. "These findings are concerning and link to previous studies showing how once something is in our memory, it is harder to correct it," said Amy Sippitt, research manager at Full Fact. "That's why it's important to tackle the causes of bad information to prevent it (7) Cloze (7): JXUwMDFlJXUwMDE0JXUwMDFkJXUwMDAy arising in the first place."