More than half of Australians encounter online misinformation every week.
97% of Australians possess limited or poor ability to verify the accuracy of online claims.
Business and economic-related misinformation is the most prevalent concern, often exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.
News outlets are identified as the source of 58% of misinformation examples, while social media accounts account for 18%.
Research Findings
A study of 1,600 examples of online information provided by participants revealed that over 20% contained false or misleading claims.
Written content remains the most common form of misinformation (68%), followed by social media posts (18%), video (11%), images (3%), and audio (1%).
The lower prevalence of audio and visual misinformation in the study may stem from the difficulty of fact-checking these formats compared to text.
Media Literacy Demands
There is strong public demand for media literacy education to help individuals distinguish between objective information and persuasive intent.
Participants emphasized that public institutions, including schools and government, should take an active role in providing these skills.
The need for improved media literacy is considered critical, as misinformation is currently viewed by many as a more pressing short-term global threat than climate change or war.
