Identifying false information online in countries worldwide 2020

A report investigating media literacy and news consumption revealed that consumers in Brazil found telling the difference between misinformation and facts most difficult, with 34 percent saying that they found it very or somewhat difficult to differentiate between false and real content. By contrast, Indian and Nigerian audiences were the least likely to have problems in this regard and reported finding it relatively easy to identify misinformation.

Level of difficulty differentiating between true and false information online among consumers in selected countries worldwide as of June 2020

Characteristic	Total EMEA	Argentina	Australia	Brazil	India	Nigeria	U.S.
Very easy	3%	8%	5%	9%	18%	20%	7%
Somewhat easy	25%	31%	32%	39%	37%	38%	32%
Neither easy or difficult	39%	36%	30%	14%	22%	22%	28%
Somewhat difficult	27%	19%	27%	28%	18%	17%	26%
Very difficult	3%	3%	4%	6%	4%	3%	5%
Don't know/not sure	1%	3%	2%	3%	1%	1%	2%

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Release date

March 2021

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

January 6 to June 18, 2020*

Number of respondents

35,030 respondents

Age group

16-70 years

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

Question: Thinking about all the different types of information about news and current affairs that you see online, how easy or difficult do you find it to tell the difference between what information is true and what is false?
Survey dates for EMEA were January 6 to March 27, 2020. Dates for non-European countries were February 12 to June 18. 2020.

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