London, Dec 4 (TIWN) Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have found that people who repeatedly encounter a fake news item may feel less unethical about sharing it on social media, even when they don't believe the information, according to a new study.

The researchers, including one of Indian Origin -- Medha Raj from the University of Southern California in the US -- said seeing a fake headline just once leads individuals to temper their disapproval of the misinformation when they see it a second, third, or fourth time.  As part of the study, published in the journal Psychological Science, the researchers asked online survey participants to rate how unethical or acceptable they thought it was to publish a fake headline, and the likelihood that they would "like", share, and block or unfollow the person who posted it. They found that the participants rated headlines they had seen more than once as less unethical to publish than headlines they saw for the first time.   The participants also said they were more likely to "like" and share a previously seen headline, and less likely to block or unfollow the person who posted it, according to the study.