A survey conducted in December 2020 assessing if news consumers in the United States had ever unknowingly shared fake news or information on social media found that 38.2 percent had done so. A similar share had not, whereas seven percent were unsure if they had accidentally disseminated misinformation on social networks.

Fake news in the U.S.

Fake news, or news that contains misinformation, has become a prevalent issue within the American media landscape. Fake news can be circulated online as news stories with deliberately misleading headings, or clickbait, but the rise of misinformation cannot be solely accredited to online social media. Forms of fake news are also found in print media, with 47 percent of Americans witnessing fake news in newspapers and magazines as of January 2019.

News consumers in the United States are aware of the spread of misinformation, with many Americans believing online news websites regularly report fake news stories. With such a high volume of online news websites publishing false information, it can be difficult to assess the credibility of a story. This can have damaging effects on society in that the public struggled to keep informed, creating a great deal of confusion about even basic facts and contributing to incivility.

According a survey held in April 2023, the share of people aged 18 years and above in the United States who were very confident in their ability to distinguish real news from false information amounted to 23 percent. A further 52 percent were somewhat confident that they were able to identify misinformation, whereas just five percent had little faith in themselves to determine facts from fake content.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the main traffic source for false information online is social media, which generates 42 percent of fake news traffic. The nature of social networks, most notably the ease of sharing content, allows fake news to spread at a rapid rate – an issue further exacerbated by the fact that many U.S. adults sometimes believe fake news to be real.

Fake news: an ongoing problem

The presence of fake news would be less of an issue if users were more aware of how to identify it and were aware of the risks of sharing such content. Many U.S. news consumers have shared fake news online, and worryingly, ten percent did so deliberately. Adults who are part of that ten percent are just a small portion of people in the United States, and elsewhere in the world, who are responsible for spreading false information. More than 30 percent of U.S. children and teenagers have shared a fake news story online, and over 50 percent of adults in selected countries worldwide have wrongly believed a fake news story.

The result of adults and young consumers alike not only believing fake news, but actively sharing it, is that small, illegitimate websites producing such content are able to grow more successful. Such websites have the potential to tarnish or seriously damage the reputation of any persons mentioned within a fake news article, promote events or policies which do not exist, and mislead readers about important topics they are trying to keep up with. A 2019 survey revealed that most adults believe that fake news and misinformation will get worse in the next five years, and the sad truth is that this will likely be the case unless news consumers grow more discerning about what they post and share online.

As of March of 2018, around 52 percent of Americans felt that online news websites regularly report fake news stories in the United States. Another 34 percent of respondents stated that they believed that online news websites occasionally report fake news stories. Just nine percent of adults said that they did not believe that fake news stories were being reported online.

Fake news

Coined by Donald Trump, the term ‘fake news’ is used to describe news stories or even entire networks believed to be spreading false information. Increasingly used by members of government and citizens on both sides of the political spectrum, the term is now a staple in debates regarding freedom of the press, corruption, and media bias. People of all ages now believe that over 60 percent of the news that they see on social media is fake and express similar concern over the accuracy of traditional news sources. While a cynical perspective regarding news and reporting may be positive in terms of holding guilty outlets accountable and ensuring responsible reporting, the fake news phenomenon has extended much farther than pure skepticism. As of 2018, around 35 percent of Republicans and 18 percent of Independents perceived the media to be an enemy of the American people.

The term ‘fake news’ is used in multiple different contexts, but officially refers simply to false information presented as legitimate news. Adults in the United States believe social media platforms and online news sites to be the most likely sources of fake news – 58 percent of respondents to a survey believed that Facebook was the most likely place in which they would encounter false news stories, and 49 percent said the same about Twitter.

A separate study revealed that 66 percent of U.S. adults believed that 76 percent or more of the news they saw on social media was biased. Social networks are generally not seen as credible or trustworthy news platforms – on a global level, social media was the least trusted source of general news and information.

Why does social media fuel or help to spread fake news?

Sadly, the main way in which fake news can be so quickly disseminated throughout not only one, but multiple social media platforms, is by users sharing such news with others (either knowingly or unknowingly). The ability to share content with friends and family is one of the key appeals of social networks, but the ease of doing so becomes somewhat sinister when it comes to the spread of false information.

Ten percent of U.S. adults admitted to knowingly sharing fake news or information online, 49 percent said that they shared such content and later found out it was inaccurate or made up, and 52 percent admitted to having done either of these things. This is a serious cause for concern. Sharing news in good faith and later discovering it was fake is one thing, but deliberately and knowingly passing such content on to others is another. Many social media users blame the networks themselves for the spread of fake news. Whilst social platforms do make attempts to regulate the content shared on their sites, the more users who actively take responsibility for the content they choose to share and hold themselves accountable, the greater the overall impact.

During a 2025 survey, ** percent of respondents from Nigeria stated that they used social media as a source of news. In comparison, just ** percent of Japanese respondents said the same. Large portions of social media users around the world admit that they do not trust social platforms either as media sources or as a way to get news, and yet they continue to access such networks on a daily basis. Social media: trust and consumption Despite the majority of adults surveyed in each country reporting that they used social networks to keep up to date with news and current affairs, a 2018 study showed that social media is the least trusted news source in the world. Less than ** percent of adults in Europe considered social networks to be trustworthy in this respect, yet more than ** percent of adults in Portugal, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Croatia said that they got their news on social media. What is clear is that we live in an era where social media is such an enormous part of daily life that consumers will still use it in spite of their doubts or reservations. Concerns about fake news and propaganda on social media have not stopped billions of users accessing their favorite networks on a daily basis. Most Millennials in the United States use social media for news every day, and younger consumers in European countries are much more likely to use social networks for national political news than their older peers. Like it or not, reading news on social is fast becoming the norm for younger generations, and this form of news consumption will likely increase further regardless of whether consumers fully trust their chosen network or not.

The statistic shows the share of adults in selected countries worldwide who have wrongly believed a news story was real until realizing it was fake as of July 2018. According to the data, ** percent of surveyed adults in South Korea said that they have falsely believed a news story was real until finding out that it was fake, compared to ** percent of respondents in Great Britain who said the same.

According to a survey from February 2022, the majority of American adults expressed concerns about the news they find on social media; 42 percent of adults said they worried a lot about whether or not the news they find there was accurate. Just 12 percent said that they had no concerns about the accuracy of the news and information they read on social networks.

According to a survey held in April 2023, U.S. adults aged between 18 and 44 years old were less confident in their ability to distinguish real news from false information than their older peers. Whilst 80 percent of those aged 45 to 64 years or adults over 65 were very or somewhat confident in this respect, for those aged 30 to 44 years the figure fell to 68 percent and was only two percent higher for the youngest respondents in the study. One reason for this could be younger generations' higher use of social networks, where misinformation is more likely to circulate and be presented as genuine information by those sharing it.

A 2023 study on news consumption among children in the United Kingdom revealed that ** percent of children aged 12 to 15 years old found it very or quite difficult to tell whether or not a news story on social media was true. Just two percent found identifying the truthfulness of social media news to be a very easy task.

During a 2019 survey, ** percent of respondents from Brazil stated that they believed that companies should stop advertising with any media platform that failed to prevent the spread of fake news and false information. The same was true for ** percent of respondents from Mexico.

The graph shows the consumer perceptions of news and fake news in Canada as of May 2017. It was found that ** percent of respondents either strongly or somewhat agreed that they have falsely believed a news story to be true until discovering otherwise, and ** percent strongly or somewhat agreed that they did not know how to differentiate between real and fake news.

A study held in early 2023 found that Indonesian adults were the most concerned about the spread of false information on social media, with over 80 percent saying that they were very or somewhat worried about the matter. Whilst Swedish and Danish respondents were less concerned about misinformation on social media, the global average among all countries was 68 percent, highlighting the growing awareness and worry about false information worldwide.

This statistic displays the frequency in sharing fake news in Italy in 2017, by frequency.
According to survey results, 22 percent of respondents reported that never considered as true news that than revealed to be false, while 33 percent of respondents did not share online fake news. Lastly, 3 percent of respondents stated that they often shared online fake news before they revealed to be false, because they thought such news were true beforehand.

Around ** percent of Americans stated that they strongly agreed that CNN regularly reports made up or fake news about Donald Trump and his administration. An additional ** percent strongly disagreed with this statement, and ** percent had no opinion, despite the divisive subject matter.

CNN

CNN ranks as one of the most popular news networks in the United States and boasts successful affiliates which can be accessed by people in over *** countries around the world. Over ** percent of Americans report that they watch the network, and it is generally seen as a credible source of news and information. Over half of Americans find the network to be at least somewhat credible, but ** percent strongly disagreed, implying highly polarized opinions based on political affiliation. Democrats are much more likely to watch CNN than their Republican and Independent counterparts suggesting that the network is at least somewhat left leaning in its coverage.

Fake news

Coined by Donald Trump during the 2016 election cycle, the term ‘fake news’ is often used by the president and his supporters to describe news stories and networks which they believe to be spreading false information. Over ** percent of Americans believe that online news websites regularly report fake news stories, while only **** percent think otherwise. Fake news is often difficult to identify, and many news consumers in countries across the globe struggle to determine fact from fiction.

During a survey conducted among U.S. adults in September 2024, it was found that over ** percent of Republican respondents said it was difficult for them to determine whether the news on the 2024 elections was true or not. In contrast, ** percent of Democratic respondents found it easy to discern the truth in election-related news.

A study examining perspectives on the news media from over 40 countries revealed that levels of trust differed notably around the world. Nigeria recorded the highest level of overall trust in news among the other countries surveyed, at 68 percent. Scandinavians in particular had greater trust in the news media, with 67 percent of Finns trusting the news, along with 56 percent of Danes and 54 percent of Norwegians —placing all three countries among the top ten globally for media trust in 2025. Who trusts the news the least? Greece and Hungary were placed among the lowest in the world when it came to how much consumers trusted the news media, alongside Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Romania. Media sources in some of these countries can be considered to be insufficiently independent from the establishment. Just 22 percent of Hungarian and Greek consumers had trust in the news media, the lowest among all countries in the report. What affects trust in news? One factor which can greatly affect trust in news is the outlet used. Globally, social media is seen as a less reliable source of news, and in the EU radio and television are viewed as more dependable. In the current climate of fake news and polarizing political events, young people around the world are having a tough time relying on the mass media , although this attitude is also seen among older generations.

This statistic depicts the results of a survey about the perception on online news and fake news in Italy in 2019. According to data, the largest group of users (37.6 percent) agreed that online news influenced the way people distinguished real news from fake news, whereas 34.7 percent completely believed that online news made difficult to tell what was a real fact from a fake new.

This statistics illustrates the opinion on ability to distinguish real news from fake news in Sweden in 2018. According to data published by Ipsos, ** percent of the interviewed Swedes were confident that an average Swede could tell real news from "fake news".

A study held in early 2024 found that more than a third of surveyed consumers in selected countries worldwide had witnessed false news about politics in the week running to the survey. Suspicious or false COVID-19 news was also a problem. False news False news is often at its most insidious when it distorts or misrepresents information about key topics, such as public health, global conflicts, and elections. With 2024 set to be a significant year of political change, with elections taking place worldwide, trustworthy and verifiable information will be crucial. In the U.S., trust in news sources for information about the 2024 presidential election is patchy. Republicans and Independents are notably less trusting of news about the topic than their Democrat-voting peers, with only around 40 percent expressing trust in most news sources in the survey. Social media fared the least well in this respect with just a third of surveyed adults saying that they had faith in such sites to deliver trustworthy updates on the 2024 election. A separate survey revealed that older adults were the least likely to trust the news media for election news. This is something that publishers can bear in mind when targeting audiences with updates and campaign information. Distorting the truth: the impact of false news Aside from reading (and potentially believing) false information, consumers are also at risk of accidentally sharing false news and therefore contributing to its spread. One way in which the dissemination of false news could be stemmed is by consumers educating themselves on how to identify suspicious content, however government intervention has also been tabled. Consumers are split on whether or not governments should take steps to restrict false news, partly due to concerns about the need to protect freedom of information.