90% of Spaniards fear that AI aggravates the problem of bulos and false news

Jane Anderson
Jane Anderson
Persona leyendo una noticia falsa en el móvil

Only 41% of Spaniards are considered to discern between a false news and a real. The remaining 59% admit not to have the capacity to do so or not to be sure, according to a recent survey conducted by the Communication and Marketing consultancy Advisors on the perception of citizens about Bulos on the Internet.

Although many Spaniards recognize being little prepared to distinguish False information from a fact based, the analysis, carried out between 1,000 adult individuals between January 10 and 15 of this year, states that almost 90% are aware of Having received a news for a channel that turned out to be a bully. In addition, 66% claim that the rumor was not believed at the time they received it.

Spaniards believe that false news has increased in the last year

There is both an awareness about misinformation and the fear that it will increase by technology. And it is that 83% of the Spaniards consider that the false news has increased in the last year, the vast majority are concerned that the popularization of the artificial intelligence Make bulles proliferate and be more credible.

With regard to the channel, the social networks (76%) are the main route for which false news is received, followed by media (40%), and personal contacts (35%), either by email or instant messaging services.

More than half of respondents believe that social networks (35%) are the main misinformation culture brothabove the media (8%). Although a third believe that both are proliferating false news equally.

However, concern varies. In the middle of the citizens They are worried that Crezc misinformationIn equal in the media and social networks, although analyzing it individually, a greater percentage is more concerned with the misinformation in media than in social networks.

This does not mean that citizens are not worried about the situation of digital channels. 80% perceive that Social networks are increasingly politicized or less committed to the veracity of what is shared in them. Moreover, 60% consider stop using a social network for this reason.

In relation to this, 20% of respondents say have abandoned x -In Twitter-, for the changes made in the moderation and verification of content. The percentage is lower for Facebook and Instagram.
It should be remembered that at the beginning of January, Meta announced the elimination of independent content verification and its commitment to a community notes system.

In this regard, 74% point out It should be the social networks themselves that confirm the veracity of the publications, while the rest consider better that moderation is in the hands of the community.

Before the proliferation of misinformation, The favorable perception of regulation grows: 70% believe that governments should legislate to fight against false news. Despite this, 44% of Spaniards are critical of the measures promoted by the Executive, as part of the Action for Democracy Plan.