New Report Shows 65% of Europeans Believe Intentionally Sharing Fake News Should Be a Crime

AMSTERDAM, March 16, 2021 (Newswire.com) - The Trusted Web Foundation has released the findings from its new State of Misinformation in Europe 2021 Report. 

The findings are based on an online survey of 1,000 Europeans who were surveyed on Dec. 10, 2020, using the platform PollFish.com. The objective of the survey was to understand how the problem of misinformation impacts people's lives, their feelings towards how the problem is being addressed today, and how they see the problem evolving in the future. 

Commenting on the findings, Sebastiaan van der Lans, Chairman of the Trusted Web Foundation, said, "The findings confirmed our belief that fake information online is a major problem that Europeans are very concerned about. We need policymakers to step in and solve this problem." 

Key Findings: 

• 60% of respondents believe fake news had an impact on elections in their country. 
• 65% of respondents said they would support regulations that made it a crime for people and organizations to knowingly create and share fake information.
• 51% of respondents believe that the government and regulators will need to get involved in order to see the problem addressed.
• 32% of respondents believe that the problem of fake news will get worse over the next five years. 
• 34% believe that big tech companies (Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.) should be held the most accountable for fake information being shared online. 

To view a full copy of the State of Misinformation in Europe 2021 Report, please click HERE. 

About the Trusted Web Foundation

The Trusted Web Foundation educates, empowers, and accelerates all stakeholders of the internet to land a vision and operationalize timestamping from consumers to governments, from publishers to policymaker, and from e-commerce platforms to advertisers and media buyers. To find out more about the Trusted Web Foundation, visit www.TheTrustedWeb.org.

Media: [email protected]

Source: The Trusted Web