Ten keys to the perception of misinformation and the consumption of digital content in Spain from the Reuters Institute 2024 report

These data are some of the ten key points left by the new annual report on digital news consumption published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in 2024.

This 13th installment, in a year of electoral processes around the world and in a context of wars in Ukraine and Gaza, is based on an online survey between the end of January and the beginning of February 2024 carried out by YouGov on 95,000 interviews in 47 countries from five continents. In addition to the consumption trends by platforms and formats such as video that you can consult in the general report , below we summarize ten key data for Spain that the University of Navarra has analyzed on misinformation and content consumption.

1. WhatsApp, the main source of online news consumption in Spain

One of the main novelties of the Digital News Report in Spain is that WhatsApp becomes the main digital platform. It is still the one that people use the most (75% of Spaniards do it regularly) but this year it is also the one that is used the most for information. 27% of those surveyed are informed on WhatsApp, surpassing Facebook for the first time where 26% of the population is informed.

The relevance of WhatsApp in Spain is clear in the following graph that compares the percentages of use in Spain with the global average.

2. Concern about misinformation is growing

Concern about misinformation on the internet rises six points in Spain compared to the previous year. 70% of citizens say they are concerned about knowing what is true and what is false in digital environments.

At a global level, Spain is 11 points above the average. Among European countries, it is in the group of the most concerned countries along with Portugal, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Age is an important factor in this concern. Older people tend to worry more about misinformation. But, even among young people, the level of concern is high. Almost two-thirds of those between 18 and 24 years old acknowledge that they are concerned about knowing what is true and what is not true on the Internet.

3. Politics, the main topic about which hoaxes are detected

37% of those surveyed say they have detected false or incorrect content about politics. It is the main topic of hoaxes, followed by the coronavirus, the economy and immigration. However, if these data are compared with those of 2022, it is seen that hoaxes about politics have fallen by six points and those referring to the coronavirus by 23 points, while those related to the economy have risen by 8 points and those related to immigration by three. .

4. Spaniards’ information disconnection grows

37% of Spaniards say they try to avoid the news (12% say they do it often and 25% sometimes). This represents an increase of 9 points compared to last year.

In this case there is also a generation gap. Among those under 35 years of age, 44% avoid the news. People older than that age do not reject them as much and the percentage of respondents who say they avoid them remains at 35%.

5. Spaniards’ trust in news remains low

39% distrust them compared to 33% who do trust them. The figures are similar to those of the previous year and a situation that began in 2022 continues: more people distrust than trust.

That confidence is closely related to age. Young people are especially skeptical, and the older they are, the more confident they are reflected in the news.

6. Google and WhatsApp: the platforms that Spaniards trust most

The digital platform that generates the most trust among Spaniards is Google, which is trusted by 55% of Spaniards. WhatsApp appears in second place with 53%. The least are X and LinkedIn with 37%.

Once again, when separating the data by age, notable differences are seen. For example, those over 65 have very low trust in TikTok, while the trust level of young people remains much more stable across all social networks.

7. Young people get information on Instagram and X, older people on Facebook and WhatsApp

When it comes to getting information, young people and older people turn to different networks. Those under 35 years of age mainly use Instagram (29%) and X (28%), while those over 35 use Facebook (30%) and WhatsApp (29%) much more. On TikTok it is young people who go to search for information and the percentage of those over 35 who do so is small, 8%.

8. TikTok users trust ordinary people, X users trust the media

On social networks, not all the messages that are consumed are trusted equally. The source of the content received is important to evaluate it and, on each platform, users trust different sources more. For example, on TikTok there is a lot of trust in ordinary people. X users also trust ordinary people a lot but even more trust conventional media. Instagram is the social network where celebrities are most trusted, both from the entertainment world and influencers and content creators.

9. The main way to reach digital news is through social networks

Social networks are the main gateway to digital news for 28% of those surveyed. This percentage practically doubles that of people who go directly to media websites or apps (15%).

This behavior also varies depending on age. It is the younger groups that access the news the most from social networks. For example, 40% of respondents between 25 and 34 years old do so. That percentage remains at 21% in the group between 55 and 64 years old.

10. Spain is the leader in Europe in the dissemination of news through instant messaging

The most common way for Spaniards to get involved with the news is to talk about it face to face with friends. 39% of the population does so, nine points above the global average. Spain also clearly differentiates itself from the international average in its way of sharing news. Spaniards mainly use messaging applications (WhatsApp and Telegram) to share information content. 30% do it when the average is 21%.