Australia (Commonwealth Union) – The trust is social media and traditional media globally has been waning in recent years. Often genuine misinformation where people or organizations with specific interests or agendas deliberately post false information that spreads virally can be difficult to monitor.
However, in recent years, many users’ suspicions have intensified that censorship is more about hiding information certain corporations and political or special interest groups do not want the public to know and where information has been extremely one sided with no dissenting views. This has resulted in the rise of platforms such as Gab and video sharing platforms such as Rumble and Odysee, which promise no censorship.
A recent study conducted by Charles Darwin University (CDU) has indicated that people have a lower likelihood of using social media as an information source when a natural disaster occurs, leading them to use traditional media and authorities’ websites for critical information. The study was an Australian first, which evaluated both users and non-users’ attitudes on social media as an authoritative source for information when natural disasters, like bushfires or floods occur.
CDU Associate Professor Kerstin Zander, from the Northern Institute, stated that the study was significant to gain insights to the wider community’s attitudes and behaviors on social media channels when natural disasters occur. Co-author Rifka Sibarani said the more participants trusted social media, they had an increased agreement that it was the best option to seek real-time information as emergencies occur.
Associate Professor Zander stated that participants that trusted social media had a 50% increased likelihood to go on the platforms to get information during emergencies, in comparison to those who did not trust the platform. “This might be concerning when you consider that 40 per cent of people did not trust social media. More than half (53 per cent) of the social media users thought that there are too many irrelevant messages on social media to find what they wanted,” she said.
