Social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or Twitch, have become a means of obtaining information for 68% of French people, with wide variations in the frequency of use and the level of trust. Half of 18/24 year olds (54%, compared to 36% for the average French person) say they use them “at least once a day” to follow the news. They also trust them more (47%) than the population as a whole (27%), a fortiori than the oldest (8%).
The gap is even greater for influencers, who include YouTubers who are very popular with young people (Squeezie, Cyprien, etc.) and producers of condensed and didactic information content (HugoDécrypte, Gaspard G, etc.). 18/24 year olds use them massively for information (74%), unlike French people aged 65 and over (7%).
Young people therefore also have a more positive view (51% of those under 35) than the population as a whole (33%) of information providers “who are not media or journalists”. Which is considered “a bad thing” by 59% of those over 35 (and even 71% of those 65 and over).
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Nearly half of those surveyed (45%), with this time small variations between age groups, nevertheless declare being confronted “several times a week” with false information on social networks.
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To deal with it, generation Z, born with the Internet, is the one who has the most recourse (75%, against 30% of the oldest) to the services of fact-checkers (journalists specializing in the verification of information online).
Regulation, education and transparency
“Social networks are the informational environment of young people. They don’t fully trust them, but they appreciate the freedom of expression they find there, the equal access to speech, a form of disintermediation,” notes media specialist Arnaud Mercier. The youngest (77%) favor freedom of expression on social networks rather than regulation (desired by 11% of them, against 58% of the oldest). To combat fake news, Generation Z supports media education, both “from an early age” (for 22%) and “for adults” (13%).
“The answers to be given on the means of combating misinformation are quite scattered, which shows that they do not favor one action in particular”, notes Guillaume Caline, of Kantar Public. The French say they are in favor of a range of measures which concern both the public authorities (in terms of regulation), the media (more transparency on the way of working, more fact-checking in the newsrooms) and the educational community in the broad sense to affect children first and foremost, but also society as a whole.
This is what the flash mission on critical media education intends to propose to the National Assembly, which will make its recommendations at the end of March, during School Press Week.
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A new methodology
The 36th Kantar Public-onepoint Barometer for La Croix was carried out from January 4 to 8, 2023 with a sample of 1,505 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over, interviewed using the quota method (sex, age, CSP…) throughout the territory.
The interviews were conducted via the Internet with 1,300 people and by telephone for 200 respondents aged 65 and over, and no longer face-to-face.
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THREAD 🔴EXCLUSIVE Our #BaroMédiasThis year shows a great revival of interest in current affairs and confidence in the various media. But information fatigue is expressed all the same. @KantarFR@jchapuispresents this 36th media barometer
(To be rolled out) ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/hvQqiYQTOu—The Cross (@LaCroix) January23, 2023
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