55% of Indians think politicians, media cherry pick facts leading to fake news: Ipsos Survey

 14th September 2018    PR News 
 Paarul Chand

According to a new survey by Ipsos and as a part of the long-running series on misperceptions of social realities – The Perils of Perception – an increasing number of Indians think that fake news, filter bubbles and post-truth are something that affects all people in general. The study of over 19,000 people in 27 countries, including India, shows that the majority of Indians say that they regularly see fake news and half of them said that they believed a fake story, only to discover later that it was fake.

Interestingly, Indians interpret 'Fake News' in different ways: 55 per cent of Indians say 'Fake News' are stories where the news outlets or politicians only pick up facts that support their side of the argument; 53 per cent say 'Fake News' are stories where the facts are wrong; 36 per cent Indians feel it (fake news) is a term, politicians and the media use to discredit news they don’t agree with.

Notably, the survey further shows our trust in politicians and media declining.

People live in a filter bubble

The survey shows that 74% of Indians think that the average person in India lives in a bubble on the internet, mostly connecting with people like themselves and looking for opinions they already agree with. Only 55% of Indians think that they themselves have the same tendency of living in the bubble.

Unlocking Fake News

70 per cent of Indians believe that they can tell real news from fake news, and 56% of Indians think (56%) that the average Indian can tell the difference between the two - having less faith in the average person.

When it comes to 'Fake News', 72% of Indians profess to have seen news stories by media organizations deliberately saying something that wasn’t true. And 55% of Indians say that they had falsely believed a news story as real until they found out that it was fake.