Trust in social media news in Australia 2021

A survey on digital news consumption in Australia conducted in February 2021 revealed that around 50% of Australian consumers did not trust news from social media. However, there was a slight decrease in the level of mistrust toward social media news compared to the previous year.

Social media as a source of information

Social media as a source of information has become more popular in recent years. According to a 2022 survey, 44 percent of respondents from Australia stated that they used social media as a source of news. Along with the benefits, social media has its drawbacks. The spread of misinformation and fake news is a significant problem, particularly during times of crisis or uncertainty, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, where false information spread rapidly on social media, causing confusion and harm.

 News sources in Australia

Overall, Australia's news media follows global trends; for example, paid consumption is typically relatively low, more people are turning to social media as their main news source, and traditional media like newspapers are experiencing a noticeable decrease. When it comes to getting news, Australians still use both offline and online media resources. In 2022, around 42 percent of Australians accessed news via television in an average week, and just over a quarter caught up on news via social media and/or blogs. By comparison, just six percent used print-based media to access news.