Study: 68% Say There’s A Problem With Fake News On Digital Platforms

“Fake news” is one of the buzz phrases of 2017. First coined during the US presidential election last year, the term has taken on a life of its own and is now part of common parlance for many broadcasters, commentators and consumers alike.

New research by YouGov, the world’s leading online research firm, reveals that the majority of APAC residents do believe that “fake news” is a problem. However, it also shows that what the problem is exactly is far harder to define.

TV is the most trusted source of news content

The study found that consumers view TV as the most trusted source for news, with three quarters of those polled (75 per cent) placing either a little or a lot of trust in TV. This is followed by radio (trusted by 70 per cent) and newspapers (68 per cent), while digital is the least trusted source for news (60 per cent).

Yet consumers also accept that these sources can be responsible for spreading “fake news”. Despite reporting high levels of trust in TV, nearly half (47 per cent) of respondents believe there is a problem with fake news on TV.

A similar number report concerns over “fake news” in newspaper content (49 per cent) and radio (41 per cent). However, concern about “fake news” surges to more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of respondents when it comes to digital content.Just one in eight people place “a lot” of trust in news that friends and family share online

Social media is a key site for news content, with more than a third of APAC residents (37 per cent) sharing online news content on social media at least once a day. This is even higher in Thailand (54 per cent), Vietnam (50 per cent), Indonesia (44 per cent) and the Philippines (40 per cent).

While the majority of respondents (58 per cent) say they trust news that friends and family share on social media, just 13 per cent of those polled place “a lot” of trust in news that friends and family share online. Australians are the least trusting, with seven per cent of people not placing any trust in content that their friends and family share. This is more than double the regional average of three per cent.

Over half of APAC respondent think more negatively of a brand that was found to be advertising on a platform that contains fake news

Consumers are cautious over the content they see online and more than half (56 per cent) have conducted independent research to check the validity of a news story. Yet despite recognising the problem of “fake news”, consumers can be unaccepting when brands become tied up with the issue; a majority of respondents (54 per cent) would think more negatively of a brand that was found to be advertising on a platform that contains fake news. Furthermore, two thirds of APAC residents (66 per cent) would trust a brand less if it was found to be advertising on a platform that contains fake news.

Some 54 per cent of respondents would no longer make purchases from a brand found to be promoting fake or misleading content

The survey also shows how brand scandals are able to influence consumer behaviour, as well as opinion. For instance, if consumers were to find out that a brand had been promoting fake or misleading content, a majority of consumers would no longer make purchases from this brand (54 per cent), choose a different brand in future (51 per cent) or tell family and/or friends about it (51 per cent). Furthermore, three in 10 consumers (29 per cent) would share this information on social media and a quarter of consumers (26 per cent) would delete the brand’s app from their phone.

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