As our daily lives become ever more digital, and as we surf the web and other online platforms, the importance of fact checking the information we see online becomes ever more pertinent.
Note: The data presented in this release relates to individuals aged 16 years and over who used the internet in the three months prior to completing the survey.
Eight in ten (80%) had doubts about the accuracy of information they saw or read online such as on online news sites or social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, etc.) compared with 63% in 2023.
Males were more likely to have doubted the integrity of information they saw online (including videos, images, etc.) on news sites or social media at 83% compared with 77% of females.
Analysis by sex and age group shows that those most likely to doubt information they see on social media or online news websites were males aged 30 to 44 years (96%), compared with just four in ten (40%) females aged 75 years and over who had the fewest doubts about information they saw online.
More than three-quarters (76%) of those who saw information online that they considered untrue, had checked its veracity. Younger people aged 16 to 29 years were most likely to have done this (95%), particularly males in this age cohort with 97% of males aged 16 to 29 years checking the integrity of the information they saw online compared with 92% of females similarly aged.
Of people who saw information or content where they questioned its integrity, over nine in ten (93%) had checked and evaluated the websites/online sources or found other information on the internet to validate the information. Younger people aged 16 to 29 years were most likely to do this (96%) with only a marginal difference between males (97%) and females (96%) in this age group.
While a further one in six (16%) had followed or taken part in online discussions regarding the information just short of half (49%) had discussed the information offline with other people or using sources not on the internet.
People who did not check potentially inaccurate information were most likely to say that this was because they already knew that the information or source was unreliable. Almost nine in ten (86%) said that they already knew the information content or source was unreliable, so there was no need to further fact check it. A further one in ten (10%) cited lack of skills or knowledge, such as they did not know how to check the information on the internet, or it was too complicated.
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