IPR: 2019 Social Disinformation Report

IPR released its 2019 Social Disinformation Report, which found that 63% of Americans believe that false information, intentionally misleading or biased information, is a "major" problem in society, on par with gun violence (63%) and terrorism (66%).

More than half of Americans (51%) say they encounter false information at least once a day, and 78% say they see it every week. Four in five adults (80%) say they are confident in their ability to identify false news and information. In addition, nearly half of Americans (47%) say they "often" or "always" check other sources to confirm whether news and information are accurate.

Credibility of source:

The most trusted sources of information include: family (74%), people like me (72%) and friends (70%).

Among all media sources, local newspapers (62%) and local broadcast news (62%) perform well in terms of trustworthiness and their ability to provide accurate news and information. Among newspapers, USA Today (47%) is considered the most trustworthy source, followed by The New York Times (46%), The Wall Street Journal (44%) and The Washington Post (42%).

Responsibility for spreading and combating false information:

40% of Americans believe the president is responsible for spreading false information (40%) and fake accounts (55%).

When it comes to social media platforms, 64% of Americans say Facebook is "somewhat" responsible for the spread of false information.

More than half of respondents (55%) said Twitter was the main culprit for spreading false information, followed by YouTube (48%), Instagram (46%) and Snapchat (39%). LinkedIn was the least likely to spread false information (28%).

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