Connecting Misinformation Perceptions and Anti-Establishment Sentiment

The third speaker in this ECREA 2024 session is Michael Hameleers. He begins by highlighting the supposed threat of mis- and disinformation, but also notes that the dissemination of such content is not necessarily very widespread; news users are very concerned about misinformation, however, and about their own susceptibility to such misinformation – they think much of the information they encounter is mis- or disinformation.

This means that we need to focus further on such risk perceptions, and on what groups in society are most likely to hold such perceptions. It seems likely that such perceptions about misinformation are also rooted in anti-establishment reality perceptions: these include conspiracy mindsets, media distrust, and populist attitudes. This paper conducted a comparative survey in seven countries to explore these perceptions.

We already know that distrust in news media is growing around the world – in many countries the majority of people distrust the media most of the time. This sometimes stems from underlying conspiracy and anti-elite mindsets, but more often also reflects people’s opposition to established claims about reality. In turn, these perceptions can lead to risk perceptions: the more people distrust established information, the more likely they perceive in threats and omnipresence of misinformation.

This study tested such patterns through a survey in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, the US, Spain, and the Netherlands in October/November 2023, and thereby covers a broad range of country contexts and attitudes towards the media and misinformation; it explored populist attitudes, conspiracy mentality, and media trust.

Amongst overall findings, strong and significant positive relationships between populist attitudes and perceptions of misinformation was only found in Brazil; participants with stronger populist attitudes in the US saw misinformation as being more prevalent; media trust and conspiracist mentalities were negatively related everywhere.

Overall, perceptions of ‘fake news’ were more likely amongst people with populist attitudes; this also applies to a wider range of anti-establishment reality perceptions, indicating general perceptions of factual relativism and deligitimisation of elite sources. While there are global patterns here, specific domestic factors are also likely to play a significant role in these dynamics. It is also likely that misinformation beliefs lead to undemocratic consequences, including polarisation around truth claims – and this needs to be addressed to defend democracies.