Disinformation is part of everyday life, but not everyone has the same opportunities to learn how to identify and verify it. Older adults and people living in rural communities face specific barriers to accessing training that would enable them to critically assess information and recognise potential attempts at manipulation.
These are some of the findings of the report Needs Assessment and State-of-the-Art Analysis, published in October 2026 as part of POP (Promoting Opportunities to Propel European Media Literacy Education Among Rural Communities and Older Adults). Coordinated by Fundación Maldita.es and co-funded by the European Union through the Creative Europe programme, the project aims to promote media literacy among people over the age of 50 and rural communities in Spain, Germany, Italy and Croatia. Six European organisations took part in the project: Fundación Maldita.es, CORRECTIV (Germany), The Fact-Checking Factory and Pagella Politica (Italy), and Faktograf (Croatia).
A survey of 1,001 people to understand exposure to disinformation
The report presents the results of a survey conducted in April 2026 among 1,001 people in Spain, Germany, Italy and Croatia. The study examines their exposure to potentially misleading content, their fact-checking habits, their access to media literacy training and their perceptions of their own ability to recognise disinformation. It also explores the information sources they trust and the main disinformation narratives identified in each country.
The survey covered topics such as the economy, taxes, pensions, immigration, vaccines, climate change, agriculture, conspiracy theories, scams and content generated using artificial intelligence. A total of 98.6% of respondents (987 out of 1,001) reported having encountered potentially misleading content related to at least one of these topics in the seven days preceding the survey. In other words, only 14 people across the entire sample said they had not seen content they considered to be disinformation. This figure reflects the widespread exposure to the topics examined and the level of distrust surrounding potentially misleading content.
However, exposure patterns vary by age. Regarding misleading content generated using artificial intelligence, 51.4% of younger respondents reported having encountered AI-generated content that appeared real on several occasions, compared with 24% of older respondents. This difference may be related both to exposure patterns and to people's ability to recognise and classify this type of content.
Differences can also be observed in fact-checking habits. Overall, 32% of young people aged 18–34 said they checked information against other media outlets or online sources before taking action, compared with 16% of older adults. Regarding their perceptions of their own abilities, nearly 78% of young people considered themselves fairly or very capable of identifying disinformation, compared with 59.7% of older adults.
Disinformation about immigration and artificial intelligence among the most common topics
Among the main potentially misleading narratives respondents reported encountering in recent days across the four countries were claims portraying immigration as an economic and security threat; the denial of human-caused climate change; conspiracy theories and vaccine rejection; alarmist messages about pensions; and claims that the digital euro would allow authorities to control people's financial autonomy.
Immigration and AI-generated content recorded the highest exposure rates: 81.5% and 76.2% of respondents, respectively, said they had encountered potentially misleading information on these topics. Health, climate change, the economy and conspiracy theories were also prominent, with exposure rates above 60%.
AI-related content stood out as one of the main concerns among respondents in all four countries. In Spain, it ranked first among the topics that caused the greatest concern. Looking specifically at disinformation narratives in Spain, health-related content included claims about supposed miracle cures for cancer and Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, as well as false claims about vaccine safety. Some of these narratives present alternative remedies as more effective than conventional medical treatments or allege that pharmaceutical companies are concealing cures.
In relation to immigration, the report identifies claims that migrants receive more financial assistance than Spanish citizens, as well as misleading content about refugees, public benefits and the alleged imposition of Islamic customs. The report also highlights the circulation of disinformation surrounding the extraordinary regularisation process for migrants approved by the Spanish government in 2026.
The report also examines which information sources respondents consider trustworthy. In Spain, 69.1% said they trusted news from public media outlets, while 63.2% identified scientists and researchers as trusted sources. By contrast, influencers and content creators were selected by just 0.7% of respondents, while 1.5% mentioned artificial intelligence tools or chatbots.
Training tailored to older adults and rural communities
Access to training opportunities is another aspect examined in the report. Among respondents aged 55 and over, 29.2% said they had received formal media literacy training, while 55.1% reported having acquired knowledge informally. Meanwhile, 15.7% said they had received no training in this area.
However, the training received does not necessarily translate into greater confidence in one's ability to recognise disinformation. In Spain, 17% of respondents aged 55 and over living in municipalities with 10,000 residents or fewer had received formal training, the highest proportion among the four countries. Nevertheless, 51.1% of these respondents said they did not feel capable of identifying disinformation. This finding highlights the importance of designing training activities that not only provide knowledge but also allow participants to practise the skills they learn and apply them to everyday situations, helping them build confidence.
The findings of this research will inform the design of POP's upcoming activities. In 2027, the project will organise pop-up media literacy activities in rural communities across the four participating countries. These will include information points, interactive workshops and training for community-based practitioners, with the aim of bringing tools for identifying and verifying disinformation to the people who stand to benefit most from them.
This research is part of the POP project, co-funded by the European Union. However, the views and opinions expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the contracting authority. Neither the European Union nor the contracting authority can be held responsible for them.