Australians are among the world's most worried about misinformation online with the Indigenous voice referendum and international conflicts among the issues heightening fears.
Three in four Australians are concerned about misinformation in 2024, says the University of Canberra's Digital News Report that recorded an increase from 64 per cent in 2022.
Only South Africa (81 per cent) recorded a higher level of concern than Australia's 75 per cent, which is well above the international average of 58 per cent.
Domestic and international events influenced the sharp rise in concern among the 2003 Australian adults surveyed, the report found.
"This rise in concern is likely influenced by a range of high-profile issues dominating the international news such as the Israel-Palestinian conflict, the war in Ukraine, as well as local factors such as scare campaigns around the Voice to Parliament referendum at the end of 2023," said the report released on Monday.
The Israel-Palestine conflict (39 per cent), climate change (35 per cent), and national politics (34 per cent) topped the list of subjects for misleading and false content.
Meanwhile, the report says trust in news fell 40 per cent in 2024 from 43 per cent the previous year, while distrust rose to 33 per cent from 25 per cent in 2018.
Public Interest Journalism Initiative chief executive Anna Draffin emphasised the critical role of high-quality journalism in combating misinformation.
"Our society has never needed high-quality news more," she wrote in the report.
"The democratisation of mass communication has delivered countless benefits, but it has also facilitated the spread of unreliable, unmediated information at scale and pace."
The report highlights demographic and political differences in how misinformation is perceived and encountered.
Men reported more misinformation than women, possibly due to differing news consumption, levels of concern, or abilities to identify trustworthy information.
Younger cohorts such as Generations Z and X are increasingly concerned about misinformation, nearing the level of older generations.
"This may be related to emerging video-based digital platforms and the spread of AI-generated content, which younger generations are more likely to access," the report said.
Education also plays a key role in media literacy and political orientation influences misinformation concerns, the report found.
People with higher education are more concerned about misinformation and confident about distinguishing trustworthy information.
Concern about misinformation among left-wing news consumers jumped 16 points to 83 per cent, while it rose seven points to 77 per cent among right-wing news consumers.
"Combined, this year's trust and misinformation data point to a growing divergence in attitudes toward the news based on education, political orientation, gender and age," the report said.
Ms Draffin called for collaborative efforts to improve the public benefits of news, including government support and industry commitments to professional standards and transparency.
