Misinformation on Social Media Still Rampant, According to Pew's Latest Report on American News Consumption

The study found spikes in unreliability

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Pew Research Center published a report this morning on Americans’ news habits during 2020, based on 10 surveys of 9,000 adult Americans.

The analysis of trends in social media, misinformation and politics confirmed some assumptions about U.S. news diets, such as those who rely solely on social media for political and election news are less informed than those using news apps or sites. It also found that misinformation on social platforms is still rife.

“When historians, journalists, academics and the public look back at the tumultuous year that was 2020, we hope this body of research will be a resource for understanding how the use of different information sources related to Americans’ sense of reality,” said Pew director of journalism research Amy Mitchell.

Social media: a news source with problems

According to the report, 18% of U.S.

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