Misinformation still fools many, Japan survey reveals
Nearly half of those surveyed by the Japanese government said they are likely to believe false and misleading information on the internet, the results showed Tuesday.
In the survey, 47.7% of respondents said they are likely to consider such information to be true or probably true.
The survey of 2,820 people age 15 or older was conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications from March 31 to April 2. It asked questions based on 15 examples of false and misleading information identified by an external fact-checking organization.
Of respondents who were exposed to such information, 25.5% said they have spread the information to their families or on social media. As reasons for doing so, 27.1% said the information was surprising while 20.2% said they thought it would be useful for others to know.
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