Americans blame social media, elected officials, TV and cable news for “fake news”

Washington DC, March 11, 2024 — Americans are most likely to think social media platforms, elected officials, and TV and cable news are responsible for creating “fake news,” according to a new Ipsos poll conducted January 5-7, 2024, on the Ipsos KnowledgePanel. One in four Americans say social media platforms (25%) are most responsible for the creation of ''fake news'' or disinformation, while 19% say politicians and elected officials and 17% say TV and cable news networks.

Republicans (29%) are far more likely to blame TV and cable news networks for creating fake news compared to Democrats (10%) and independents (15%).

The poll also finds that Americans have differing definitions of “fake news.” Two in five Americans say fake news is stories where news outlets or politicians only pick facts that support their side of the argument. Half of Republicans (51%) say this is what constitutes fake news, compared to 32% of Democrats and 39% of independents.

Meanwhile, 46% of Americans view the term as something politicians and the media uses to discredit news they don’t agree with. Roughly half of Democrats (52%) and independents (48%) believe this, compared with 39% of Republicans.

Still, roughly half of Americans say they think “fake news” is stories where the facts are wrong (53%), something roughly half of Democrats (52%), Republicans (51%), and independents (55%) agree with.

When it comes to people having incorrect perceptions about their country, such as whether crime is going up or not, Americans are most likely to say politicians mislead people (52%), the media misleads people (47%), social media misleads people (44%), or that people have a biased worldview (42%).

About the Study

This Ipsos poll was conducted January 5 to 7, 2024, using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,025 adults age 18 or older.

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult U.S. population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the U.S. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.

The data for the total sample were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, household income, and party ID. Party ID benchmarks are from recent ABC News/Washington Post telephone polls. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2023 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS).

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45-59 and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other, Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races, Non-Hispanic)
• Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor or higher)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
• Party ID (Democrat, Republican, Independent, Something else)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.23. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on subsamples. Sampling error is only one potential source of error. There may be other unmeasured nonsampling error in this or any poll. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson

Senior Vice President, US Public Affairs

+1 202 420-2025

[email protected]

Mallory Newall

Vice President, US Public Affairs

+1 202 374-2613

[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos is one of the largest market research and polling companies globally, operating in 90 markets and employing over 18,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. We serve more than 5000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is listed on the Euronext Paris since July 1st, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and the Mid-60 index and is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD).

ISIN code FR0000073298, Reuters ISOS.PA, Bloomberg IPS:FP www.ipsos.com 

Access more Ipsos research on this topic here.