The Future of Truth and Misinformation Online
Experts are split on whether the coming years will see less misinformation online. Those who foresee improvement hope for technological and societal solutions. Others say bad actors using technology can exploit human vulnerabilities.
How People Approach Facts and Information
People deal in varying ways with tensions about what information to trust and how much they want to learn. Some are interested and engaged with information; others are wary and stressed.
Younger men play video games, but so do a diverse group of other Americans
In the U.S., four-in-ten women and roughly a quarter of adults ages 65 and older say they play video games at least sometimes.
News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017
Today, 67% of U.S. adults get at least some news on social media. Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat serve as sources of news for more of their users, though Facebook still leads as a source of news for Americans.
Americans’ online news use is closing in on TV news use
As of August 2017, 43% of Americans report often getting news online, just 7 points lower than the 50% who often get news on television.
Highly ideological members of Congress have more Facebook followers than moderates do
In both legislative chambers, members’ ideology is a strong predictor of the number of people who follow them on Facebook.
The Fate of Online Trust in the Next Decade
Many experts say lack of trust won’t hinder increased public reliance on the internet. Some expect trust to grow as tech and regulatory changes arise; others think it will worsen or maybe change entirely.
Nearly half of those who have been harassed online know their harasser
About one-in-four Americans who have been harassed online say an acquaintance was behind their most recent incident.
1 in 4 black Americans have faced online harassment because of their race or ethnicity
Although online harassment can take many forms, some minority groups in America more frequently encounter harassment that carries racial overtones.
Democrats more likely than Republicans to say online harassment is a major problem
Republicans and Democrats are about equally likely to have been harassed online because of their political views, but there are some notable differences in how members of each party view the issue of online harassment.
