Fake news and social media bans in Europe 2019

After the Sri Lankan government cut off social media access in the wake of a fatal terrorist attack in 2019, Ipsos conducted a survey looking at opinions on temporarily banning social media in times of crisis. This statistic looks just at results from European countries. There were huge differences of opinion when it came to trusting social media companies to ensure the factuality of shared content in times of crisis; in Russia, 84 percent agreed this was possible. In Great Britain, just 28 percent agreed.

Opinions in Europe on temporary social media bans to prevent fake news in times of crisis in 2019, by country

Characteristic	Internet users can seperate fact from fiction, would not support social media ban	Trust social media companies to ensure factuality of shared content in times of crisis
-	-	-
-	-	-
-	-	-
-	-	-
-	-	-
-	-	-
-	-	-
-	-	-
-	-	-
-	-	-
-	-	-
-	-	-

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Source

Use Ask Statista Research Service

Release date

August 2019

More information

Region

Europe

Survey time period

May 24 to June 7, 2019

Number of respondents

19,823*

Age group

18 years and older

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

Original question: "For each of the following please indicate if you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree: I think that most people are capable of separating fact from fiction, so I would not support a temporary social media ban to stop the flow of fake news." and "I trust the social media companies to ensure that the content that is shared on their platforms during times of crisis is factual."

*19,823 total respondents in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States of America. For this statistic, only data from countries in Europe is presented.

Citation formats