Fake News, Market Reactions, and Informational Efficiency: Evidence from Four Publicly Listed Football Clubs on Borsa Istanbul
Author:Murat Aygün and Yunus Savaş
JEL:D83, G12, G14, G41, L83.
DOI:10.24818/EA/2026/73/1269
Keywords:event study, fake news, financial performance, football club, information asymmetry, information manipulation, market resilience.
Abstract:
This study examines how fake news affects the stock prices of publicly traded football clubs in Turkey. This research integrates attention-based metrics from Google Trends to construct a specialised search-interest index for detecting fake news episodes using data covering the period from January 2021 to February 2026. The methodological framework is distinguished by its use of econometric enhancements, including the Kolari-Pynnönen test for industry-wide cross-sectional dependence and the standardised residual test robust to event-induced variance. To ensure the highest level of inferential validity despite a concentrated number of clusters, the analysis implements a wild cluster bootstrap procedure utilising a refined weight distribution. The empirical findings demonstrate a degree of market resilience, as speculative narratives fail to generate enduring price distortions or structural shifts in volatility regimes. Instead, the results reveal that the equity market for these clubs exhibits substantial informational efficiency, with investors rapidly discounting sensationalised noise in favour of fundamental economic and sporting drivers. Furthermore, panel fixed-effects estimations confirm that market uncertainty remains governed by established financial mechanisms, specifically volatility persistence, rather than being destabilised by the rising frequency of digital disinformation. This research underscores the capacity of disciplined investor bases to mitigate the risks of information asymmetry, offering critical insights into the corporate sustainability and informational integrity of publicly traded sports entities in the digital era