Misinformation seen by four in 10 people, says Ofcom

UK – Four in 10 adults in the UK have come across misinformation or ‘deepfake’ content in the past month, according to research from media regulator Ofcom.

Fake news on a typewriter

In research carried out the week before the UK general election, Ofcom said that 71% had seen misinformation online, compared with 43% on television and 21% via newspapers and their associated websites and apps.

Men, young adults, people from higher socio-economic backgrounds, minority ethnic and LGBTQ+ groups were more likely to say they have come across misinformation, Ofcom said.

The research found that 77% of UK adults thought it was important to check different sources for news, while 71% felt that that online information would always contain a mix of reliable and unreliable information.

While 45% said they felt confident in judging whether sources of information are truthful, only 30% said they could confidently tell whether an image, audio or video was created by artificial intelligence.

When asked about how they deal with misinformation, 47% claimed they ignored the content, while 26% said they searched for a more authoritative source and 24% checked the information on a trusted news website.

However, 44% agreed with the statement that the more a story is edited, the less likely it is to be true, while 42% said that important stories are deliberately covered up by traditional new sources and 32% thought that journalists follow codes of practice.

In addition, 29% believed that the world is secretly controlled by a single group of people and 30% said that there is significant evidence of large-scale election fraud.

Ofcom has also appointed Ofcom non-executive board member Lord Richard Allan as chair of a new Disinformation and Misinformation Advisory Committee.

The committee, which is actively recruiting members, will advise Ofcom on how providers of regulated services should deal with disinformation and misinformation, examine how Ofcom regulates services on the issue and promotes media literacy.

Lord Allan said: “There is a growing body of research and expertise on the challenges posed by misinformation and potential responses to it.

“Our new committee will draw on this knowledge to provide the best possible advice to Ofcom and other stakeholders.”

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