Impact of fake news in Europe

A survey held in Europe in December 2020 found that the biggest impact of fake news on consumers was that they checked facts more thoroughly themselves, with a total of 34.6 percent of respondents across 23 participating countries saying that they did so. Meanwhile, 12.4 percent stopped getting news from specific places, and eight percent reduced the amount of time spent on social media.

Impact of fake news in Europe as of December 2020

Characteristic	Share of respondents
Check facts more thoroughly myself	34.6%
No impact to me personally	33.2%
Stop getting news from more specific outlets	12.4%
Reduce the amount of news I consume overall	11.4%
Reduce the amount of time spent on social media	8%
Other	0.4%

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Release date

2021

More information

Region

Europe

Survey time period

December 8, 2020

Number of respondents

1,000*

Age group

16 years and older

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

*Respondents were aged 16 to over 54, with the majority of participants between the ages of 18 and 24 (28.1 percent). The gender split skewed female (55.2 percent).
**Top five countries represented were the UK (41.2 percent), Italy (13.1 percent), Spain (7.9 percent), Greece (6.2 percent), and Romania (5.1 percent).

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