Fake news didn’t start with recent events—it’s a longstanding problem that has escalated dramatically with internet growth and social media dominance. Understanding where fake news spreads, how it affects society, and how to identify it has become essential for every internet user.
Fake Statistics & Data: How Much of the Internet Is False?
How Concerned Are People About Fake News? 2026 Data
Across the 48 markets covered by the Reuters Institute’s 2026 Digital News Report, concern about fake news averaged 62%, up four percentage points from 2025. Average trust in news fell three points to 37%, the lowest level recorded since tracking began in 2015; U.S. trust was 25%.
These figures measure public concern and trust in news. None of them measures the share of online content that is false, and no reliable study puts a single percentage on how much of the internet is fake.
Chart 1: Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 – Concern About Fake News vs. Trust in News (48 Markets)
Editor’s Top Picks
- 62% of people across 48 markets are concerned about fake news (Reuters Institute, 2026)
- Trust in news fell to 37%, the lowest since 2015; U.S. trust was 25% (Reuters Institute, 2026)
- A median of 72% of adults across 25 countries call false information online a major threat to their country (Pew Research Center, 2025)
- 26.2% of U.S. adults were exposed to untrustworthy websites during the 2020 election, down from 44.3% in 2016
- 72% of U.S. men and 59% of U.S. women are confident they can tell real news from fake news (Ipsos, 2024)
- False news was 70% more likely to be retweeted than true news on Twitter in a 2018 Science study
- Fake news cost the global economy an estimated $78 billion annually, according to a 2019 analysis
What Percentage of Information on the Internet Is True?
Is Fake News Seen as a Major Problem? Survey Data
No study reliably measures what percentage of information on the internet is true. What surveys do measure is how seriously people take the problem. In Pew Research Center’s 2025 survey, a median of 72% of adults across 25 countries said false information online was a major threat to their country. In a separate Pew survey, 51% of Americans called made-up news a very big problem.
Fake News on Social Media: Statistics & Data
How Many People Are Exposed to Untrustworthy Websites? Observed Data
A 2023 Nature Human Behaviour study of 7.5 million website visits from 1,151 U.S. adults found that 26.2% were exposed to untrustworthy websites during the 2020 election, down from 44.3% in 2016.
This is observed web-browsing exposure, not a self-reported frequency and not a percentage of social media content.
Chart 2: U.S. Adults Exposed to Untrustworthy Websites – 2016 vs. 2020 Elections
Can People Spot Fake News? Detection Confidence Statistics
An Ipsos survey published in 2024 found that 72% of U.S. men and 59% of U.S. women were confident they could distinguish real news from fake news.
Chart 3: Fake News Detection Confidence in the U.S. by Gender – Ipsos 2024
Fake News Statistics by Social Media Platform
Is Facebook The Biggest Fake News Distributor? Platform Data
Observed exposure to untrustworthy websites fell from 44.3% in 2016 to 26.2% in 2020, and Facebook played a smaller role in exposure in 2020.
A 2026 Nature Human Behaviour study found that deceptive networks reached at least 37 million U.S. Facebook users and 3 million Instagram users around the 2020 election, equal to about 15% and 2% of active U.S. adult users on the respective platforms. Three of the 49 networks studied generated more than 70% of the measured reach. Deceptive networks rely on identity deception, so they are not the same thing as all fake news.
For current context, the Reuters Institute reported in 2026 that 54% of respondents used social media and video networks as news sources; trust in news on social platforms was 22%, and trust in AI-chatbot news answers was 20%.
Chart 4: Deceptive Networks in the 2020 U.S. Election – Share of Active U.S. Adult Users Reached by Platform
Fake News on Social Media Engagement: Facebook Data
In Q4 2020, Facebook posts linking to deceptive sites generated 1.2 billion interactions, nearly one-quarter of the 5.1 billion interactions with links to U.S.-based sites tracked by NewsWhip. Interactions are likes, comments, and shares; they are not unique people or views.
Chart 5: Facebook Interactions With Links to U.S. Sites in Q4 2020 – Deceptive vs. Other Sites (Billions)
Twitter Fake News Statistics & Data
How Much Fake News Is on Twitter? Viral Statistics
In a 2018 Science study, false news was 70% more likely to be retweeted than true news on Twitter. This reflects a fundamental human tendency: sensational stories are more shareworthy than nuanced truths, making fake news on social media platforms inherently more viral.
Contrary to popular belief, humans—not bots—drove the greater spread of false news in that study; bots accelerated true and false news at similar rates.
Chart 6: Twitter Fake News Statistics – Retweet Likelihood in the 2018 Science Study
Who Spreads Fake News on Twitter? Data
During the 2016 U.S. election, 0.1% of Twitter users accounted for nearly 80% of fake-news sources shared, according to a 2019 Science study.
This concentration suggests misinformation combating could be more effective if targeted strategically toward the small group of accounts responsible.
Economic Cost of Fake News: Global Data & Statistics
What’s The True Economic Cost of Misinformation? Financial Data
A 2019 CHEQ-commissioned analysis by University of Baltimore economist Roberto Cavazos estimated that fake news cost the global economy approximately $78 billion annually. The 2019 estimate breaks down as:
- $39 billion in stock market losses
- $17 billion from financial misinformation
- $9.54 billion in reputation damage
- $9 billion from public health misinformation
- $3 billion in platform safety/moderation costs
- $0.4 billion in political spending fraud
- $0.25 billion in brand safety incidents
Chart 7: Fake News Economic Impact Statistics – 2019 Cost Estimate by Sector
How To Spot & Avoid Fake News
Check The Publisher Source
Legitimate news outlets identify themselves clearly and have published correction policies. Verify the domain, check the “About Us” section, and cross-reference with fact-checking sites.
Red flags: Misspelled URLs, no author information, no publication date, anonymous funding.
Verify The Motivation
Ask yourself: Does this story benefit a particular political party, company, or ideology? What financial incentives exist for publishing this? Is there an obvious bias?
Does Fact-Checking Reduce Sharing? 2026 Data
A 2026 Nature Communications study examined 237,180 Community Notes-checked cascades that generated more than 431 million reposts on X. Displaying a note reduced subsequent reposting of misleading posts by 61.2%, but delays limited the estimated system-wide reduction in total engagement with misleading posts to 14.9%.
Timing is the constraint: the median response time was 18.1 hours, while only 13.5% of helpful notes appeared before the 5.75-hour repost half-life. The study covers X and should not be generalized to all platforms.
Sources
- Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 (Concern about fake news & trust in news)
- Pew Research Center: False Information Online as a Threat (25-country survey, 2025)
- Pew Research Center: Concern About Made-Up News (Made-up news as a national problem)
- Nature Human Behaviour: Exposure to Untrustworthy Websites (2016 vs. 2020 U.S. election exposure)
- Nature Human Behaviour: Deceptive Online Networks (Facebook & Instagram reach in the 2020 U.S. election)
- NYU Center for Social Media and Politics (Deceptive networks summary)
- Nature Communications: Community Notes and Misleading Posts (Fact-checking & reposts on X)
- Science: The Spread of True and False News Online (2018 Twitter study)
- Science: Fake News on Twitter During the 2016 U.S. Election (2019 study)
- German Marshall Fund (Deceptive-site engagement in 2020)
- Ipsos (Confidence in spotting fake news, 2024)
- CHEQ & University of Baltimore (2019 Economic Cost of Fake News report)
