The third speaker in this session at the AANZCA 2025 conference is Natasha van Antwerpen, whose focus is also on the 2025 Australian federal election. Her interest is in the role of mis- and disinformation during the election. This connects with overall concerns about the effects of mis- and disinformation on societal cohesion, trust in institutions, moral decline, antisocial and harmful behaviours, etc.
Her project examined what mis- and disinformation individuals encountered during the election campaign. This was done through an experience survey: participants installed an app on their phones that would regularly ask them to report on their experiences, four times per day. It also gathered background data on their attitudes, beliefs, and trust.
Some 50% of the group reported seeing mis- and disinformation at some point during the election campaign; they saw more of this if they were actively looking for information, and consulted non-traditional sources of information. Social media were both the most used source of information, and the greatest source of mis- and disinformation; personal conversations were also seen as a significant source of such problematic information. There was a relationship between perceptions of mis- and disinformation and perceptions of polarisation in society.
Exposure to mis- and disinformation was negatively related to trust in institutions, attitudes towards democracy, and perceived performance of democracy, and positively related to affective polarisation. Use of traditional sources was also related to higher trust in institutions.
All of this is based on self-reporting, of course, so there is no way to verify whether the problematic information participants reported was indeed mis- and disinformation – however, even perceptions of mis- and disinformation can already have negative repercussions at the individual and societal level. The sample of participants was not demographically representative, either, and this also colours the results.
