Misinformation
40 to 60 % of Australians rely on social media for their daily news.
Tucker, J. G., Guess, A., Barberá, P., Vaccari, C., Siegel, A., Sanovich, S., Stukal, D., & Nyhan, B. (2018). William + Flora Hewlett Foundation.
In August 2020, almost 7.9 million Australians (38 percent) reported using social media as their main source of news. However, only a very small proportion (5 per cent) considered social media a trusted source, with TV, radio and print media more frequently identified as trustworthy.
Roy Morgan. (2020). www.roymorgan.com
Studies have found that social media’s business model, which is focused on ad revenue, means that its platforms are less stringent regarding political advertising, leading to the proliferation of bot accounts and the purchasing of followers to spread misinformation in relation to politics.
Tucker, J. G., Guess, A., Barberá, P., Vaccari, C., Siegel, A., Sanovich, S., Stukal, D., & Nyhan, B. (2018). William + Flora Hewlett Foundation.