On the occasion of the 20th International Safer Internet Day on February 7, 2023, Saferinternet.at, together with Secretary of State for Youth Claudia Plakolm, presented a current survey on the topic of “Young people and misinformation on the Internet”. The study results show that Austria's young people are in a dilemma when dealing with information on the Internet: Young people get information about everyday topics primarily via social media, but hardly trust the information they get there. There are major knowledge gaps and problems in evaluating information sources. At the same time, the consumption of traditional media among young people is steadily declining.
Vienna, February 2, 2023 - As part of the EU initiative Saferinternet.at, the Austrian Institute for Applied Telecommunications (ÖIAT) and ISPA - Internet Service Providers Austria, together with Youth State Secretary Claudia Plakolm, today presented a study on young people and false reports on the Internet, for 400 11 to 17 year olds were surveyed. The results show a worrying development and a great need for action.
The majority of Austrian young people (62 percent) use social networks every day to find out about current topics. At the same time, 39 percent of those surveyed rate the content on these platforms as not very credible, and 23 percent even consider it to be unbelievable.
“Fake news is like poison that makes us no longer able to rely on the truth. A conscious handling and critical examination of facts is therefore a central component when using social media and the Internet, especially for young people,” said Youth State Secretary Claudia Plakolm.
The importance of social networks as a source of information continues to increase

As with the similar survey in 2017, online media and social networks will continue to be the most important source of up-to-date information on politics, sport and culture for young people in 2023.
Social networks come first and are used at least weekly by 80 percent of the young people surveyed (2017: 59%). With a particularly significant increase of 75 percent of young people, YouTube is used at least weekly to provide information about current topics (2017: 27%). This is followed by streaming platforms with 59 percent, then television (2023: 54%, 2017: 59%) and blogs and general websites (2023: 48%). Around four out of ten young people use classic media websites (2023: 39%, 2017: 20%), Wikipedia (2023: 39%, 2017: 9%), and radio (2023: 37%, 2017: 33%). Podcasts are still used by 24 percent of young people. Printed daily newspapers and magazines only play a relevant role for 17 percent of young people, which is a decrease of 8 percentage points compared to 2017.
Matthias Jax, project manager Saferinternet.at:
“This results in a worrying information vacuum because, according to the study results, Austrian young people are increasingly saying goodbye to traditional media consumption.”
Most popular sources of information for young people least credible
Although social networks are the most important source of information for young people, they see them as not very credible. Only eight percent of those surveyed rate social networks as “very credible” (2017: 10%). The same applies to the second most important source of information, YouTube, which is rated as “very credible” by only 10 percent.
Credibility of traditional media is declining
Wikipedia is the source of information most trusted by young people; 25 percent consider it very credible (2017: 21%). The other places in the trust ranking are followed by the classic media radio (2023: 21%, 2017: 32%), television (2023: 20%, 2017: 29%) and classic media websites (2023: 19%, 2017: 23% ) as well as daily newspapers and magazines (2023: 12%, 2027: 20%). What is particularly striking is that although classic media is currently viewed as more credible by young people, it is used far less.
“The decline in the use of traditional media and their loss of credibility among young people opens the door to the spread of fake news from dubious sources. We invite the Austrian media to increasingly reach out to young people and are available to develop joint initiatives. At the same time, the educational sector and parents are called upon to place practical media skills and source evaluation more at the center of general education and everyday family life,” says Matthias Jax.
Influencers are more important in the ranking than classic media
“Influencers” are also increasingly being used by young people as a daily source of news and information and are perceived by them as “modern journalists”. However, these are mostly young people who operate their own online channels but are generally not subject to editorial quality criteria. 63 percent of young people already refer to contributions from influencers when it comes to current topics.
Internet search engines are becoming less important
Internet search engines are used in everyday life by young people primarily for school and professional contexts. As a private source of research and information on current topics, only 48 percent of young people use them. When it comes to internet searches, YouTube now dominates with 75 percent and social networks with 80 percent.
The “gut feeling” is the guide to recognizing fake news
49 percent of young people surveyed are often unsure whether information on the Internet is true. However, even for school purposes, only 64 percent of young people check the sources of information - and only if the information seems unreliable to them.
“The 'gut feeling' therefore plays an important role in assessing information sources. “Young people can hardly describe what makes this gut feeling,” says Barbara Buchegger, educational director at Saferinternet.at.
There is a lack of knowledge to verify information
The majority of young people have an interest in checking information. However, only 22 percent of young people say they are aware of fact-checking websites (such as Mimikama and Correctiv).
And only 12 percent of young people actually use them. 54 percent of young people said they compare information from different sources. Half of young people say they forward news on current topics without checking; 53 percent find checking information sources tedious. For 56 percent of 11 to 14 year olds, parents are the first point of contact when they have questions about the truth of information on the Internet. The older the young people get, the more independent they act.
Ignoring is the most important strategy when dealing with false reports
In everyday life, it is clear that ignoring is the most important strategy when dealing with false reports (57%). 7 in 10 young people say it is difficult to find out whether information on the Internet is true or false. A quarter of young people (25%) directly alert people who spread false information. A similar number (24%) use the platform operators' reporting options. 21 percent of young people try to warn others about false reports using comment postings.
“The platform operators have been trying for years to make it more difficult to spread false news and to respond to it. The results of the study clearly show that we need to do more educational work to increase young people's awareness of where and how false reports can be reported," said ISPA Secretary General Stefan Ebenberger.
More offers for young people are necessary
Saferinternet.at and we at Mimikama offer a wide range of offers to support young people in their dilemma when dealing with fake news. To ensure that checking information and reporting fake news is as easy as possible, practical and low-threshold tools as well as rapid and high-quality processing by the platforms are necessary. Schools must ensure that students not only learn the skills to evaluate information theoretically, but also practice them regularly in all subjects and at all school levels. Parents are required to educate their children about trustworthy sources and to always reflect on the truthfulness of information in everyday family life.
“As an industry, we have been trying for years to support young people, their parents and teachers in promoting media literacy, especially with information material, in order to identify false reports at an early stage,” says ISPA General Secretary Stefan Ebenberger.
Artificial intelligence brings with it new challenges
The acquisition of information by young people as well as the transfer of knowledge in the educational system and the private sector will continue to change massively due to new dialogue systems (“chatbots”) based on artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT. “Information offerings and further training measures on the use of AI in schools are therefore urgently needed and are incorporated into the activities of Saferinternet.at,” says Barbara Buchegger.
This year, for Safer Internet Day, extensive materials are once again available to download free of charge for young people, parents and educators.
About the study : The study “Young people and misinformation on the Internet” was carried out by the Institute for Youth Culture Research and Cultural Mediation on behalf of the Austrian Institute for Applied Telecommunications and ISPA – Internet Service Providers Austria as part of the EU initiative Saferinternet.at.
During the survey period (November 2022), 400 young people between the ages of 11 and 17, representative of age, gender and educational background, took part. In addition, five focus group discussions were held with a total of 70 young people between the ages of 13 and 19. The 2017 comparative study “Rumors on the Internet: How do young people evaluate information from the Internet” was carried out by the Institute for Youth Culture Research and Cultural Mediation on behalf of the Austrian Institute for Applied Telecommunications and ISPA – Internet Service Providers Austria as part of the EU initiative Saferinternet.at. During the survey period (November, December 2016), 400 young people between the ages of 14 and 18, representative of age, gender and educational background, took part. In addition, six in-depth individual interviews were conducted.
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

