Half-truths and lies: an online day in Australia

• 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.