70 percent think misinformation could impact elections

As the US Congress talks about potentially banning TikTok, a new survey from Media.com shows that 70 percent of social media users are moderately to extremely concerned that misinformation will impact the 2024 US Presidential election.

Respondents are also inclined to hold social media companies accountable for misinformation and hate speech, with a slim majority (51 percent) favoring increased regulation and 62 percent calling for legal action for social platforms that allow misinformation to spread.

Although 63 percent of respondents say they feel confident in their ability to spot misinformation on social media, some 60 percent say they have shared information they later found to be false. And when asked how misinformation impacts our lives, 68 percent of respondents say it causes confusion, 64 percent believe it undermines trust, and 60 percent feel it influences public opinion.

"Misinformation and fake profiles are eating away at trust and confidence which is critical to a functional society," says James Mawhinney, the CEO and Founder of the Media.com network. "These survey results show there is a very real concern about the impact of misinformation. It is particularly concerning considering the amount of time we spend consuming content from unverified sources."

When asked about specific networks 55 percent of respondents say they think Facebook is doing the poorest job of curbing misinformation, followed closely by TikTok and X at 44 percent each. When asked what changes social networks should make to address the challenge of misinformation, 57 percent say fact-checking all content; 55 percent support identity verification for all profiles to eliminate bots; and 42 percent favor an automatic ban for those who spread false information.

Media.com is a profile-based network created to help combat misinformation. It allows individuals, brands and PR representatives to post text, video and audio information, publish releases, publicly respond to third party media, share their stories, challenge misconceptions and correct the record without the fear of being degraded by trolls, comments or encountering fake profiles. You can find out more on the company's site.

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