Article by E&D
If you try to look for information related with fake news, resources commonly will refer you to the most famous cases related with USA Presidential elections 2016, or some dramatic stories of misinformation or fake news leading to shootings in USA.
Does it mean that Europeans don’t struggle with fake news issue? Unfortunately, it is not the case. Despite that the big wave of fake news is a relatively recent topic and initially there was low awareness of the issue, still in 2018 in a study conducted in 28 European Union countries respondents stated that, in average, they encounter fake news at least once a week and 37% stated that fake news surround them daily (Source: Statista.com). The level to which Europeans need to deal with fake news differs though between countries. While Finland has been recognized as a European country with the lowest frequency of fake news (where just 18% of respondents have admitted seeing fake news every day or almost every day), if you live in Greece you are probably highly exposed to fake news on daily basis. Greece scored as the most fake-news-intensive country in Europe, where 55% of respondents have seen fake news daily or almost daily, followed by Spain with 53% and Hungary with 52%. And this just gives us a vague idea of the level of fake news we are exposed to, based on the ‘fakes’ we are able to spot.
The wide-spread problem of fake news strongly impacts our trust in media and is influencing our democracy in general. Research shows that among millennials 27% of respondents have zero trust in media as a source of reliable information (Source: Statista.com), which blocks their ability to make informed decisions. Meanwhile, Europeans that still have any trust in media, non-surprisingly, consider especially online social media, video hosting sites and podcasts as a doubtful source of trustworthy news and information. However, still over a quarter of Europeans trust news from social media as a news source, with trust in social media being at its pick in Portugal with 41% of respondents considering news and information from social media reliable.
Considering other sources of news, TV remains a trustful source of information for two third of Europeans. But the source of news and information we trust the most is radio.
Broad dissemination of fake news across media channels, also in Europe, remains an undisputed fact. The impact of fake news on Brexit referendum, European parliamentary elections in 2019 or reaction to Covid-19 pandemics, show that fake news can have a strong impact on life of all of us. Independently if we, as individuals, are able to correctly identify and avoid influence of fake news on our decisions, we are all impacted by them as a part of society as a whole. Therefore, whichever is your level of fake news literacy combating fake news in your environment is in your best interests. To learn more how to deal with fake news and promote awareness in this area follow our IMEDIAL project.