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Young Adults Trust Info From Social Media Almost as Much as Traditional News, Survey Finds

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Social media - Sputnik International, 1920, 28.10.2022
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Fake news ran rampant on social media during the 2016 election, leading people to question science, actual news, and social norms. Falsehoods spread quickly on social media, a concern that is compounded by the fact that US adults under 30 are now almost as likely to trust information on social media sites as they are from national outlets.
In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, half of the 18-29 year olds in the US say that they have “some or a lot” of trust in the quality of information received from social media websites – while only 56% of young adults said the same about information disseminated by national news organizations.
The American Trends Panel is a nationally representative panel of randomly selected US adults through an address-based recruitment effort, which allowed nearly all US adults the same chance of selection for the survey. Panelists participated in monthly self-administered web surveys, and panelists without reliable internet access were provided with a tablet and wireless internet connection. In total, nearly 20,000 US adults participated in the surveys, which were provided in both English and Spanish.
Though young adults seem to favor information from social media, other age groups were less likely to have faith in facts found on the apps, with all other age groups preferring to source their news from national or local outlets. According to the Pew Research Group, it is likely that this has to do with the fact that other age groups place less trust in the information received on social media sites.
Compared to the half of young adults who trusted news from social media, only 36% of adults aged 30-49 and 25% of those aged 50-64 could say the same.
** FILE ** In this April 16, 2008 file photo, printer Belinda Affat poses for photographs with a copy of the Wall Street Journal at a printing press in London.  A year into its takeover by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., The Wall Street Journal is evolving under what its new editor calls incremental radicalism.  Steeped in tradition, the 119-year-old newspaper has expanded its coverage beyond corporate America, placed more breaking stories on the front page and increased the size of photos and graphics. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, file) - Sputnik International, 1920, 30.07.2022
Trust in US Media Undermined by Proliferation of Partisan Outlets & Bias Claims, Experts Say
The only other year that young adults had the same high level of trust in information on social media was 2019, while this year, the level of trust young adults had in national news is at its lowest since at least 2016, when the Center first started asking the question.
Interestingly, local news outlets were the most trusted among all of the age groups. However, the trust Americans have in these outlets is at an all-time low – 71% compared to a high of 85% of participants trusting information they get from local outlets, with the decline seen across political and demographic categories.
Though, overall, Republican participants were far more skeptical of information received from all news platforms. This is in line with other studies that have shown a nationwide decline in trust in news, elections, and public institutions.
In a separate, recent Gallup poll, 38% of Americans said they had no trust at all in media organizations to report the news fairly and accurately. Democrats, however, were far more likely to trust the press than Republicans were, with a gap of 56%.
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