News in detail

Users confused by fake news

The study "In News We Trust" 16,000 people from Germany, France, Britain, Italy and the United States, among other places, were asked how they consume news and how fake news affects their media use. A quarter of respondents rated social networks as sensational or even as fake in the survey.

Half of all respondents on average check the news up to five times a day on different media. 30 percent consume news even six to 20 times a day. Only a minority of respondents cared to check up on local or global events less than every two to three days.

The study shows that social media such as Facebook, Twitter & co. have a bad image among users. While more than 60 percent get their news on social media, there is a huge lack in trust. Only every ninth participant considers the advertising and branded content appearing on social networks to be credible or trustworthy.

When asked to match certain terms to certain types of media, users had some pretty damaging associations with social media: A quarter considers social networks “fake”. Up to 40 percent of Germans associate social media with the term “fake news”.

For the study, 2000 participants aged 16 and up from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Brazil were interviewed respectively.