Low trust in Big Tech’s combating Fake News: Survey
How efficiently big tech companies are combating disinformation is a key question. Whistleblowers from Facebook, now Meta, recently accused the company of not doing what it can. A new study says only 6% of journalists think Big Tech’s monitoring of social media has had a significant impact on the spread of fake news.
PR and communication company Greentarget, working with law, accounting, management consulting, real estate and financial services across the US and in London, surveyed more than 100 journalists. 35% of respondents have worked in the profession for more than 20 years. It’s the second edition of the Fake News report, the first one was released just days before the 2020 US presidential election.
- 93% say they strongly believe or somewhat believe that fake news negatively impacts journalism
- 84% agree that the term “fake news” is contributing to the delegitimization of traditional journalism/news sources
- 56% believe that fake news is more dangerous than no news
- The percentage who said it was journalists’ responsibility to vet fake news increased from 85% last year to 93% now. However, only14% think their own work has had a significant impact when it comes to combatting fake news
- 9% think media literacy efforts have had a significant impact
- Despite the low opinion of social media and Big Tech that the journalists surveyed expressed, two-thirds of them said they use social media in their jobs at least a quarter of the time.
“We support journalists in their efforts and know the value of what they do for a free society,” said Lisa Seidenberg, Greentarget’s vice president of media relations. “That said, we think — and we certainly hope — they’re being overly cynical about fighting fake news. Media literacy efforts, which have proven effective, are increasing across the country. We find these efforts encouraging — and we hope journalists and the broader public get behind them more fully.
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