Quarter of children consuming news prey to fake stories
More than a quarter of British children who consume news online say they believed a fake or artificially produced story, according to the research.
A finding by UK online safety charity Internet Matters that 27 per cent have fallen victim to fake news has led to calls for children to be given better critical thinking skills to keep them safe online.
This rate is higher among vulnerable children; This includes those who qualify for special educational needs support, or have an education, health and care plan, or have physical or mental health problems, according to this report.
Nearly four in 10 people from this group believe a fake or AI-generated story, while 23 percent of children are not considered vulnerable according to this research.
A 17-year-old girl told researchers: “Today I saw three videos about natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods and they were all fake but I believed every one of them, the AI fooled me.”
The report warned that the spread of misinformation online could “deepen social and political divisions and even trigger real-world harm”; for example, the riots following the Southport murders, in which three girls were fatally stabbed at a dance class.
“The spread of AI-generated content, including deepfakes, on social media also increases the risk of misinformation and disinformation, making it harder for users to verify and trust news,” the researchers added.
Deepfakes are defined as the manipulation of images, videos, and sounds created by artificial intelligence to misrepresent the appearance, speech, or actions of someone or something.
Almost half of children thought social media companies should take proactive steps to remove fake news, while 40 percent said AI-generated content should be clearly marked or labeled.
Overall, the report found that just over three-quarters of children watch the news on a weekly basis, and 68 percent of these children get their news from social media.
The proportion who get their information from news organizations’ social media accounts is similar to those who get their information from influencers or content creators, at 41 percent and 40 percent respectively.
The charity said social media algorithms played a “significant role”, with the research finding that 40 per cent of children who said they got their news from social media did not actively follow news-focused accounts, and many came across news content through accounts and posts that were automatically recommended to them.
The report also warned of the harmful effects on children of publishing disturbing news content in their online streams; 61 percent of kids who get news on social media say they saw a story that worried or upset them in the past month, and 41 percent say they were overwhelmed by it.
Labor MP Jess Asato, a member of the British parliament’s Education Select Committee, said children were too often exposed to harmful or misleading content online and received little support in making sense of it.
“We need to embed media literacy throughout education so that every child can think critically, question what they see and stay safe online,” he said.
Internet Matters’ Rachel Huggins said social media had become “the primary news and information medium for most children”.
“While social media offers instant access to news that keeps children and young people informed and connected to the world around them, the volume of information, often negative, poses a risk to their well-being,” he said.
“The negative impacts of this information environment are exacerbated by the rise of mis- and disinformation and AI-generated content, making it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood online and impacting young people’s trust in news.”
The report’s findings are based on a survey of 961 news-consuming children aged 11-17 in the UK in July 2025.
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