Ways to verify online news in countries worldwide 2020

A survey from June 2020 found that checking how other media organizations reported on information was a popular way to check if information was true, with 52 percent of respondents from Nigeria using this technique. When asked how to verify information found online was true or false, 52 percent of participants from Brazil responded that they would go back to the original source.

Ways to verify if information online is true among consumers in selected countries worldwide as of June 2020

Characteristic	Total EMEA	Argentina	Australia	Brazil	India	Nigeria	U.S.
Check whether the headline accurately reflects the rest of the story	27%	35%	36%	31%	38%	39%	35%
Search online for key words to see if the story ranks among top searches	22%	23%	20%	36%	40%	28%	19%
Read how other media organizations have reported the story	43%	38%	44%	49%	45%	52%	42%
Go back to the original source of the information	39%	46%	38%	52%	47%	46%	41%
Use a fact-checking website	27%	10%	25%	39%	39%	36%	35%
Talk to friends or family to check whether they have heard of the story	21%	34%	26%	28%	39%	37%	24%
Do some research on the media organization that has reported the story	32%	45%	28%	37%	43%	45%	31%
Check the publication date	29%	43%	29%	39%	35%	33%	28%
Read the comments	27%	39%	29%	34%	38%	39%	22%
If on social media, check the profile of the person who shared the story	16%	29%	17%	30%	37%	30%	17%
If on social media, check how many people have shared or liked the story	7%	12%	8%	13%	29%	17%	8%
Other	1%	1%	3%	1%	1%	1%	1%
I would not do anything to verify the piece of information	4%	2%	6%	2%	1%	1%	6%
Don't know	7%	4%	7%	3%	3%	3%	7%

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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: When you're unsure about whether a piece of news or information online is true or false, which of these, if any, are you most likely to do?
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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