A 2025 survey found that roughly 60 percent of U.S. adults aged 65 years or over said they saw information they believed to be false or misleading every day, compared to only 29 percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 years old. Younger respondents were also marginally more likely to say that they were not sure if they had seen false information or not.

According to a survey held in May 2025, just under the half of all responding adults said they believed they saw false or misleading information online every day. Just two percent said they never saw false news, and almost a fifth saw it on a weekly basis.

A 2025 survey found that over 50 percent of Republicans said they saw information they believed to be false or misleading every day, compared to just 37 percent of registered Democrat voters. Democrats and Independents were overall less likely to say they saw false information regularly.

A May 2025 survey found that nearly half of adults in the Midwest (49 percent) reported seeing false or misleading information online on a frequent basis. This was slightly higher than the 45 percent recorded in the Northeast, South, and West. Around one-fifth of adults across all regions said they encountered such content occasionally, while very few reported never seeing it. The findings suggest that while misinformation is widespread nationwide, residents of the Midwest region may face slightly greater exposure.

According to a global study conducted in 2019, ** percent of respondents felt that there was a fair extent or great deal of fake news on online websites and platforms. By comparison, ** percent less said the same about TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines. Traditional media in general is still considered more trustworthy than online formats, despite social networks being the preferred choice for many.

Meanwhile, as some consumers around the world now turn to influencers for news instead of journalists, the risk of them being exposed to inaccurate, incorrect, or deliberately false information continues to grow, and journalists face pressure to battle fake content whilst finding new ways to keep audiences engaged.

Fake news and journalism

More than ** percent of journalists responding to a global survey believed that the public had lost trust in the media over the past year. Whilst the reasons for this are many, the role of fake news cannot be undermined, particularly given the speed with which false content can spread and reach vulnerable or misinformed audiences. Either unintentionally or deliberately, fake news is often shared by those who encounter it, which only serves to worsen the problem. Indeed, journalists consider regular citizens to be the main source of disinformation, followed by political leaders and internet trolls.

Despite the threats fake news poses, journalists themselves feel that concerns about disinformation could positively impact the quality of journalism. There are also growing expectations from the public and journalists alike for governments and companies to do more to help boost quality journalism and curb the dissemination and influence of fake news. News industry leaders rated Google as being the best platform for supporting journalism, but the likes of Amazon and Snapchat have a long way to go before organizations consider them reliable in this respect.

In May 2025, a survey asked U.S. adults how they feel while consuming news. The results indicate that a majority feel informed, with 53 percent saying that news generally makes them feel this way. At the same time, 43 percent reported feeling angry, and 32 percent said they feel depressed when consuming news. In contrast, only 16 percent described feeling hopeful. These findings highlight that while staying informed is a major benefit of news consumption, negative emotional reactions—such as anger and depression—are also very common among Americans.

According to surveys held in 2015 and 2025, the share of respondents in the United States who said they were very or extremely interested in news dropped from 67 percent to 51 percent in that time period. Interest in news in the United Kingdom also fell sharply in that time period, and news fatigue and avoidance continue to be growing issues among audiences around the world.

A 2025 survey found that around one in four adults in the United States actively avoided news related to sports, followed by entertainment (18 percent) and lifestyle (17 percent). In contrast, health was the least avoided news topic, with just four percent of respondents saying they ignored it.

According to a study conducted between June 2022 and July 2023, which found 948,000 social media posts containing meat and dairy misinformation, 37 percent of such posts promoted the idea that elites were planning A Great Reset. Overall, one quarter of these posts claimed that alternative proteins were unhealthy, while 18 percent stated that animal-based food products were essential for good health. Additionally, four percent of posts contained greenwashing, claiming that animal-based food products were environmentally friendly.

As of October 2025, 6.04 billion individuals worldwide were internet users, which amounted to 73.2 percent of the global population. Of this total, 5.66 billion, or 68.7 percent of the world's population, were social media users. Global internet usage Connecting billions of people worldwide, the internet is a core pillar of the modern information society. Northern Europe ranked first among worldwide regions by the share of the population using the internet in 2025. In the Netherlands, Norway, and Saudi Arabia, 99 percent of the population used the internet as of February 2025. North Korea was at the opposite end of the spectrum, with virtually no internet usage penetration among the general population, ranking last worldwide. Eastern Asia was home to the largest number of online users worldwide—over 1.34 billion at the latest count. Southern Asia ranked second, with around 1.2 billion internet users. China, India, and the United States rank ahead of other countries worldwide by the number of internet users. Worldwide internet user demographics As of 2024, the share of female internet users worldwide was 65 percent, five percent less than that of men. Gender disparity in internet usage was bigger in African countries, with around a 10-percent difference. Worldwide regions, like the Commonwealth of Independent States and Europe, showed a smaller usage gap between these two genders. As of 2024, global internet usage was higher among individuals between 15 and 24 years old across all regions, with young people in Europe representing the most significant usage penetration, 98 percent. In comparison, the worldwide average for the age group of 15 to 24 years was 79 percent. The income level of the countries was also an essential factor for internet access, as 93 percent of the population of the countries with high income reportedly used the internet, as opposed to only 27 percent of the low-income markets.

A survey measuring levels of engagement with political news in the United States found that older adults were by far the most likely to get news about politics and elections from journalists and news organizations, with 78 percent of adults aged 65 years or above saying they did so. Meanwhile, adults aged 18 to 29 years old were the likeliest to go to friends, family, or neighbors for updates about elections and politics.

According to a survey conducted in the United Kingdom in May 2024, 75 percent of adults thought that digitally-altered content contributed to the spread of online misinformation. Additionally, 67 percent felt that AI-generated content contributed to the spread of misnformation on online platforms.

A survey conducted in Britain in August 2024 found that 46 percent of adults thought that social media networks did a bad job at handling misinformation during the riots that took place in July and August 2024. Overall, 25 percent said that social media networks did a fairly bad job, and just one percent felt that they did a very good job. In the aftermath of the UK's far-right riots that occurred in late July and early August 2024, the most common type of crime that offenders have been charged with is that of violent disorder.

According to a 2019 report, 37.7 percent of Russians were concerned about false information on the internet and on social media platforms, whilst 37.6 percent of Ukrainians shared the same concerns. Overall, the global average for worries over false information online stood at 57.1 percent.

In 2021, around only ** percent of internet users in France agreed that available information on the internet was always accurate, whereas ** percent of respondents felt that information was not always completely truthful.

According to a survey conducted in Britain in August 2024, 80 percent of respondents who voted for Labour in the 2024 election felt that social media companies should be held responsible for posts made by users that incited criminal behavior during the recent riots that took place across the United Kingdom. Just under 80 percent of Liberal Democrat voters thought the same, as well as 73 percent of Conservative voters. Between July 30 to August 5, 2024, far-right, anti-immigration riots occurred in the United Kingdom. In the aftermath of the riots, the most common type of crime offenders have been charged with was that of violent disorder.

The European questionnaire on Information and Communication Technologies Data reveals that there exists a disparity between the internet usage of people with a low, medium, and high formal education level. This disparity although present in most countries, differs widely in its severity.

In 2020, only 23 percent of users with low formal education in Serbia used the internet to search for health information. Among people with medium formal education the share is 22 percent higher, amounting to 45. The highest share of users accessing such information can usually be found among users with a high degree of formal education. According to the survey 63 percent of users in Serbia with a high degree of formal education do search for health advice online.

When asked about "Attitudes towards the internet", most Chinese respondents pick "It is important to me to have mobile internet access in any place" as an answer. 50 percent did so in our online survey in 2025. Looking to gain valuable insights about users of internet providers worldwide? Check out our reports on consumers who use internet providers. These reports give readers a thorough picture of these customers, including their identities, preferences, opinions, and methods of communication.

When asked about "Attitudes towards the internet", most Mexican respondents pick "It is important to me to have mobile internet access in any place" as an answer. 56 percent did so in our online survey in 2025. Looking to gain valuable insights about users of internet providers worldwide? Check out our reports on consumers who use internet providers. These reports give readers a thorough picture of these customers, including their identities, preferences, opinions, and methods of communication.

How many people use social media?

              Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2024, over five billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to over six billion in 2028.

              Who uses social media?
              Social networking is one of the most popular digital activities worldwide and it is no surprise that social networking penetration across all regions is constantly increasing. As of January 2023, the global social media usage rate stood at 59 percent. This figure is anticipated to grow as lesser developed digital markets catch up with other regions
              when it comes to infrastructure development and the availability of cheap mobile devices. In fact, most of social media’s global growth is driven by the increasing usage of mobile devices. Mobile-first market Eastern Asia topped the global ranking of mobile social networking penetration, followed by established digital powerhouses such as the Americas and Northern Europe.

              How much time do people spend on social media?
              Social media is an integral part of daily internet usage. On average, internet users spend 151 minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, an increase of 40 minutes since 2015. On average, internet users in Latin America had the highest average time spent per day on social media.

              What are the most popular social media platforms?
              Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently boasts approximately 2.9 billion monthly active users, making it the most popular social network worldwide. In June 2023, the top social media apps in the Apple App Store included mobile messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram Messenger, as well as the ever-popular app version of Facebook.