With the latest technological advancements and the rise of internet communities, sharing and receiving information became a walk in the park. Unfortunately, that opens up a lot of space for misleading information that tends to spread faster than factually correct data. With that in mind, we’ve gathered some of the most important fake news statistics to help you understand the severity of the situation and the general public attitude toward the most popular media outlets.
Top 10 Fake News Statistics and Facts
34% of Americans don’t trust media outlets at all.
58% of Americans have at least some trust in the information coming from national news organizations.
76% of Americans distrust the information they see on social media.
Posts with misinformation get 6x more traction than factual posts on Facebook.
11% of Americans said they trusted TV news a lot in 2022.
59% of Gen Z people report having some or a lot of trust in newspapers.
As of late 2021, 57% of adults globally said they trusted traditional media sources.
78% of UK people think their social and economic class is covered unfairly in the media.
80% of people in China reported they trusted media outlets as a source of reliable information.
51% of Filipinos say they find it difficult to spot fake news.
Statistics on Fake News
34% of Americans don’t trust media outlets at all.
What’s even more shocking, the majority of Americans, or 53%, said they didn’t trust TV news at all in 2022. Americans’ trust in news media outlets drops year after year and across the board, since only 11% somewhat believe the news they hear on TV, and only 16% believe in things they read in newspapers. When compared to 2021 data, these numbers signify a 5% drop for both TV and newspaper media outlets.
(Gallup)
58% of Americans somewhat trust the information coming from national news organizations.
According to the latest statistics about fake news, this is the smallest share of people ever since this poll came into life five years ago. In 2019, 65% of people reported having at least some trust while, in 2022, only 12% of people say they trust the information from national news organizations a lot. With 75% of Americans reporting they trust them, local news organizations are more reputable when compared to their national counterparts.
(PewResearch)
As of late 2021, 57% of adults globally said they trusted traditional media sources.
On the other hand, an even larger number, or 59% of people, said they prefer using search engines for getting trustworthy information. Statistics on fake news on social media further indicate that it’s the least-trusted source of information since only 37% of respondents said they trusted the news they’ve read on social media.
(Statista)
11% of Americans said they trusted TV news a lot in 2022.
Americans’ trust in television news reached its peak in the initial reading in 1993 when 46% of US citizens claimed they trusted what they heard on TV. However, the number steadily dropped as the years went by and 2022 is the fourth consecutive year that people’s confidence in TV news is below 20%.
(Gallup)
80% of people in China reported they trusted media outlets as a source of reliable information.
We can put this one as one of the more suspicious fake news statistics, but according to more than 36,000 respondents worldwide, Chinese people trust their media the most. Fewer than 40% of US and UK respondents claimed they trusted their news outlets, while only 29% of Russians said the same.
(Statista)
68% of Democrats, 31% of independents, and 11% of Republicans trust the media.
As it’s the case on many questions today, this one shows how polarized American society is. Historically, Democrats’ trust levels peaked in 2018 when it was at 76% while Republicans never crossed the 52% mark reached in 1998. Non-partisans’ levels of media trust constantly drop and, in 2021, they reached a low of 31% that was historically repeated only once, in 2012.
(Gallup)
Almost 50% of Covid-19 news in 2020 was fake.
Spread of fake news statistics indicate that, during the pandemic, fake news reached every pore of our society. Namely, just between January and April 2020, researchers identified 1225 fake stories, and more than half of them (50.5%) of them have spread thanks to social media platforms. The other contributors include individuals, the person who coined the term ‘fake news’--Donald Trump, websites, and media outlets such as websites, newspapers, and tabloids.
(Wiley Online Library)
42% of Americans strongly believe fake news is a bigger problem than censorship.
17.75% of them somewhat share this opinion, while 17.16% strongly believe censorship is a much bigger issue than the spread of fake news. With only 14.93% of people neutral on this topic, it’s safe to assume that people care about the information they are digesting on a daily basis.
(KnightFoundation)
With 35%, Democrats trust newspapers most out of all Partisans.
According to the latest statistics about fake news, the trust of all Partisans (including the independent ones) in newspapers is dropping YoY. Only 5% of Republicans and 12% of independents trust the media which is the lowest recorded number ever for these party groups. It’s interesting to note that Democrats’ trust rose by 4% to 46% while Trump was in charge of the oval office, but fell when Biden became the POTUS.
(Gallup)
Misleading News Statistics
59% of people in France think the Russia-Ukraine war was subject to fake news.
In a recent French public opinion study, the majority of people thought they were misinformed by the news related to the Russia-Ukraine war. 18% of them were absolutely certain that was the case, while only 5% of French respondents completely snubbed that premise.
(Statista)
62% of people in Ireland reported seeing online content they deemed untrue.
In a public opinion study done in Ireland in 2021, the majority of internet users reported that the content and information they saw online seemed false or misleading. Both male and female respondents questioned the integrity of what they saw and read. The numbers were quite close, 61% of males compared to 62% of females suspected that the news they saw online was fake.
(CSO)
78% of UK people think their social and economic class isn’t covered enough in the media.
However, only 15% of them think that, when it’s covered, it’s covered unfairly. Misleading news statistics suggest there are strong feelings regarding the perception of unfairness caused by misleading or complete lack of information.
(Reuters)
76% of those on the right think the media treats them unfairly.
Only 16% of people in the American right-wing believe the media treats them fairly which brings us to a huge discrepancy between the right and left wings. Namely, 51% of people leaning left think the media does a pretty good job while only 34% of people on the left wing think media outlets could do better.
(Reuters)
44% of people involved in a 2020 US presidential election survey said news outlets could have done more to prevent misinformation.
Statistics on fake news suggest that 43% of news consumers felt that social media platforms did well in preventing misinformation. It’s interesting that 84% of people claim they try hard to get their news from reputable sources that verify and review their stories before publishing.
(Deloitte)
59% of Gen Z people report having some or a lot of trust in newspapers.
Despite their increasing presence on social media platforms, only 22% of respondents from this generation say they trust the news they see on social media. Moreover, 70% of Gen X people trust the news they hear on the radio. Surprisingly, fake news statistics claim that radio is the most trusted news provider for 64% of Millennials.
(Statista)
51% of Filipinos say they find it difficult to spot fake news.
To be more precise, 13% of the people surveyed in a December 2021 questionnaire say they find it very difficult to differentiate between true and false information while 38% report having slight issues with spotting fake news. On the other hand, 48% of people from the Philippines find it easy to know if a piece of information they saw on TV, radio, or social media is true.
(SWS)
With 61% of respondents believing they’re credible, ABC and CBS are the most trusted news sources in the US.
In a survey conducted in February 2022, the majority of respondents said ABC and CBS are the most credible news sources in the country. According to fake news statistics, giants such as HuffPost, Fox News, or MSNBC had fewer than 50% of surveyed people trusting them. Almost all of the media lost consumers’ trust when compared to 2021.
(Statista)
42% of Americans worry the information they find on social media isn’t accurate.
We can’t really determine the percentage of unreliable information on the internet, but according to one survey from 2022, 42% of Americans doubt the trustworthiness of the information they find on social media. Only 12% of surveyed people said they didn't worry about social media news accuracy at all.
(Statista)
Newspapers are the 4th least trusted institution in the US.
The only institutions with a lower trust score than newspapers (16%) were the criminal justice system, big business, and the police, with 14% each. It’s important to note that all party groups have reduced levels of trust when compared to 2021.
(Gallup)
Social Media and Fake News Statistics
Posts with misinformation get 6x more traction than factual posts on Facebook.
Here’s a fact social media platforms don’t want you to hear, but you could assume it’s true. Misinformation gets a huge chunk of the users’ engagement cake. Namely, 68% of the total users’ engagement amount goes to false data. According to Facebook fake news statistics, unreliable posts got six times the amount of likes, shares, and interactions on Facebook when compared to trustworthy sources.
(NYU)
76% of Americans distrust the information they see on social media.
Moreover, 90% of Americans believe that social media fuels the fake news industry while 80% of them are concerned about how public information is distributed at the moment. African Americans are most concerned about hate speech and abusive content online, while 71% of Americans believe the information on the internet does more to divide people than bring them together.
(KnightFoundation)
Tweets with misleading or fake information were 70% more likely to be retweeted than truthful ones.
As per fake news on Twitter statistics, fake news spreads faster. Unfortunately, we can’t even blame it on the bots since the study showed that it was people who brought this problem to life. Namely, bots did have a lot to do with spreading false information, but even after removing them, the situation didn’t change. The problem was present in all areas and industries, but political news was particularly susceptible to misinformation.
(Science)
27% of Americans say they have at least some trust in social media information.
According to social media and fake news statistics, these outlets are pretty unreliable for informing people properly. Only 4% of Americans say they have a lot of trust in the information they get on socials making social networking sites a pretty unreliable source of information. Finally, the fact that social media is trusted by a minority of both Democrats and Republicans says a lot about the trustworthiness of news you can get while scrolling your Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter feeds.
(PewResearch)
Future of Fake News – Summary
Fake news is a problem and it’s one of the most pressing issues all over the world. Unfortunately, it’s a problem that grows with time as we see people’s trust in media outlets plummet year after year. It’s safe to conclude that people should combat fake news and go the extra mile to find proper information online.
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