42% of young Europeans get their news from social networks

BarcelonaAccording to the latest Eurobarometer Youth Survey, published this Monday in the European Parliament, 76% of young people in the European Union consider that they have been exposed to fake news "sometimes", "very often" or "often". The study was carried out on young people between sixteen and thirty years old, and for 42% of those surveyed, social networks are the main source of information, surpassing television, the second most voted option (39%). The most used platforms to get information are Instagram (47%), TikTok (39%) and YouTube (37%). Online news websites are the third preferred option, with only 26% of the votes. Those who prefer television are also more likely to use news platforms and radio, and are twenty-five years old or older, while the youngest prefer networks. In the question "From which of these sources do you get most of your information on politics and social issues?", 49% of Spanish respondents answered from social media, seven points above the European average.

The Reuters Institute's 2024 digital news report revealed that TikTok is a source of disinformation, and that 27% of users find it difficult to distinguish misleading content. In terms of the fight against disinformation on social media, platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, both owned by Meta, have relaxed their rules of use in recent months, which has facilitated the spread of false information. The network has stopped using fact-checkers and has opted for a system in which it is the users themselves who say whether information is false or not. In this way, Meta has come closer to the way X operates and the positions of the Trump administration.

A significant finding from the study is that young people are aware of their exposure to misinformation, as 76% believe they have been exposed to fake news in the last week. 70% of respondents are confident in recognizing fake news: 18% are very confident and 52% are fairly confident in identifying it. In the case of Spain, almost 90% of respondents admit to having been exposed to this danger in the last week.

Young people have also started using applications based on artificial intelligence. In the last twelve months, more than half of young people admit to having used artificial intelligence to generate images, texts or videos. The most common reason for using it is studies and research, although the second option is for entertainment.