A major survey of young people in Scotland found that nearly all have encountered false or misleading content online, with many saying they cannot trust what they see because of deepfakes and AI-generated posts.
The findings, taken from more than 2,600 responses to Young Scot’s third “Truth About Youth” survey, paint a picture of anxiety and distrust among young people, which they say is fuelled by artificial intelligence (AI) and misleading or false information spread online.
The survey found that 80% of young people ages 11 to 25 have encountered false or misleading content, 70% are worried or anxious about inaccurate information online, and 60% admitted they struggle to tell what is real and what is fake.
Many of the survey respondents described a persistent suspicion about information online.
“It’s frustrating to constantly wonder if something is manipulated or untrue,” one said. “You have to be suspicious of practically everything.”
Others said that they felt the problem was getting worse.
“Deepfakes are now just a part of daily life, and they’re getting better every day. There have to be stronger regulations put on AI.”
John Loughton, chief executive of Young Scot, said that the sheer proportion of young people who report encountering misinformation and also admit to being worried about it requires decision-makers to listen to their concerns.
“When young people are speaking in such large percentages about being worried about this, we have to take action now."
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However, Mr Loughton said that he does not believe the answer is to wall young people off from the internet.
"The answer to mis- and disinformation isn't about less exposure or blocking access to it," he said. "It's about creating a culture where better, safer information can be accessed for young people."
This, he argued, means understanding where young people tend to look for information and how they engage with the world, both online and off.
In the Young Scot survey, 51% of young people said that other young people were their primary source of information, with trusted adult experts coming next.
He described a shift in how information reaches young people, which now happens increasingly through AI tools that scrape and summarise content from websites.
That, he said, makes trusted sources more important than ever, as good information has to survive "those passive filters of auto-generated information."
Young Scot, a national youth information agency with an audience of hundreds of thousands of young people, runs digital-literacy resources through its Info-Wise programme and draws close to two million hits to its website a year.
Mr Loughton said this indicates that young people need to be engaged in conversations about solving the problems that are worrying them.
“There’s a real risk we revert to quite a paternalistic attitude of adults telling young people what’s good for them. Whilst expert input is really important, we need to directly listen to young people’s voices.”
The Young Scot survey comes at a time when researchers, children’s rights advocates, parents and policymakers are debating the merits of a ban on social media for children under 16, and bans on mobile phones in schools. Mr Loughton said that Young Scot does not have an official position on banning social media.
This is because the charity does not believe there is enough information on what young people think.
“The voice that has been left out of it is from proper data sets showing what young people directly think about a ban.”
That is not to say that young people do not have an opinion on the matter, however.
Jensen Black, 18, a Young Scot volunteer, favours the ban and likened it to regulations on smoking and other activities, where society has deemed a certain age appropriate for allowing someone to make their own choice about a harmful action.
He said that arguments about the ban not preventing all under-16s from accessing social media do not fairly account for the young people who it does deter, nor the potential for long-term social changes around attitudes towards social media.
However, a ban cannot be the end of the conversation, he said, and it will not be enough to protect young people from the misinformation that they are concerned with.
“AI content is having a deeply concerning effect on an already polarised online political environment.
“An increasing number of people are basing their opinions on artificial media they have seen online. This is very unhealthy for our democracy.”
He said that more work should be done to reconnect young people with trusted sources of information, such as newspapers and official news outlets, which are subject to regulations and oversight.
The Young Scot survey touched on a broad range of subjects, including violence and child poverty, both of which were shown to be important issues for young people.
Mr Loughton said that, whatever the individual problem, young people’s experiences should help shape the solutions.
“Young people are asking for action, stronger protections and better support to help them navigate an increasingly complex digital world.”
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