Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

In self-perception to detect disinformation, the presumptions are half rotten

The results of the second study on scientific disinformation have been published and data on self-perception, issues of false information and false beliefs have appeared, among others.

Today, the results of the second scientific disinformation study were published in Spain, and 51.5% of respondents are convinced that they are able to detect disinformation, while only 3% of the rest believe that they can detect it.

In addition, the gender gap is evident in this perception, 10.3% of men are very sure of their ability to detect disinformation, while 4.3% of women are very sure.

2215 citizens, all over 16 years of age and regular Internet users, have been surveyed.

in 2022, in the first study, people said they mainly received false information about COVID-19. in 2026, however, the population reported receiving false information in the following areas: food and well-being (40%), climate change (36.2%), medical treatments (31.9%) and vaccines (28.3%).

The tendency to see ourselves more capable and the effect of the third person is very evident in the results of the research.

“those people who are ‘very confident’ with the ability are the ones who spread disinformation most on the networks.”

It is surprising to see that these people who are “very confident” in their ability are the ones who spread the most disinformation on networks (13.9%), compared to those who are not sure about themselves (they 2%).

Artificial intelligence has also spread rapidly in the search for scientific information: 32.3% admit to using it weekly to report on science and health. But even though its use has become commonplace, they recognize a low trust rate for AI, with 62.4% believing that AI helps spread fake news.

The study also looked at the impact of emotions and found that we are more likely to spread news that causes us deep fear. There is also significant data on democracy. 45.5% of those over 65 years old consider that disinformation harms democracy, while only 18.2% of young people between 16 and 24 years old believe that it harms democracy.

“45.5% of those over 65 believe that disinformation harms democracy, while only 18.2% of young people aged 16 to 24 believe that disinformation harms democracy.”

Scientists are the professionals who most trust people to talk about science (83.8% trust them), while politicians in the country (57%), influencers (54.5%), foreign politicians (45.4%), journalists (45.6%) and lobbyists (40.4%) are responsible for disseminating false information.

As markers, it has been observed that people who are most at risk of spreading disinformation tend to have conspiratorial thinking, believe in scientific populism and are among those who make a passive consumption of news.

In response to all this, they have also carried out an experiment in which they have observed that the actions that help to stop the spread of disinformation are to take the time to reflect before disseminating the content and ask someone else if it is true.

The research and information about the authors here.