The moderating role of social media literacy on the predictors of fake news sharing behavior in China

The widespread use of social media has significantly altered how individuals share and consume information, accelerating the spread of fake news. This study investigates the predictors of fake news sharing behavior (FNSB) among college students in China, focusing on four key factors: information sharing (ISR), information seeking (ISK), trust in social networking sites (TSNS), and selfexpression (SE). It also examines the moderating role of social media literacy (SML) in these relationships. A quantitative research design was employed, using a selfadministered questionnaire and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling for analysis. The findings confirm that all four predictors have significant positive relationships with FNSB, with ISK being the strongest. Crucially, SML was found to significantly strengthen the relationships between TSNS and FNSB, and between SE and FNSB, while it did not significantly moderate the relationships involving ISR and ISK. These results reveal a nuanced role of SML, suggesting that it does not uniformly protect against fake news but can, in contexts of high platform trust or strong self-expression, amplify the sharing behavior. This study offers critical theoretical and practical insights by challenging conventional assumptions about digital literacy and informing the development of more sophisticated strategies to mitigate misinformation among college students