The insights of a new, nationally representative survey has been conducted and published by The Alan Turing Institute, with 94% of people in the UK saying they’ve been confronted with misinformation on social media.

The research was undertaken to understand peoples’ exposure to misinformation online, their concerns about it, their trust in different organisations, and the different strategies people use to protect themselves.

Nearly three quarters (72%) of people interviewed said they were comfortable with social media platforms using “behind the scenes” interventions, such as demonetisation, downranking content, early moderation, and deplatforming.

The survey also found that most people were unaware of the interventions for countering misinformation, with only 3% saying they’d taken a media literacy course, and just 7% using self-help resources like fact-checking tiplines.

The Institute noted that, considering the sheer amount of public discourse happening online—not least during a period of many global elections—it’s important to not only understand which interventions against misinformation are effective, but also how and when people are willing to engage with such interventions.

“With the huge increase in technologies that can quickly and convincingly create and spread false content online, it is critical that the public are equipped with the right tools to protect themselves,” said Dr Florence Enock, senior research associate in online safety at The Alan Turing Institute.

“However, our research highlights that most people do not use available resources even though they are shown to be effective. It is crucial that more is done to encourage people to use misinformation interventions, such as media literacy courses, and that online platforms provide their users with effective and accessible ways to report misinformation when they see it.”

Dr Jonathan Bright, head of online safety at The Alan Turing Institute, added: “Concern about misinformation is undoubtedly extremely high. The lack of trust in mainstream news organisations demonstrates a wider scepticism of information more generally. It’s really important that people feel they can have confidence in information they receive from reliable sources, particularly during a crucial election year for the UK and the US.

“It’s clear there’s a lot of work to be done to instil confidence in people,” added Bright.

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The results of the Institute’s new research has been published around a month after Ofcom, the UK’s broadcast media and online safety regulator, set out its provisional three-year plan to promote and improve media literacy in the UK.

The plan includes the regulator having a deeper understanding of which media literacy measures work, collaborating more with organisations delivering media literacy programmes, expanding its research evidence base, and encouraging online platforms “to go further” with building user media analysis skills.