Eurostat: Lithuanians least willing to verify information read online

Europeans differ greatly in their willingness to verify information seen or read on news websites and social media, Eurostat has found in recent results of a pan-EU survey. Lithuanians stood out as least interested in verifying such information.
Eurostat wrote in a press release last week, that according to its survey, in 2021, 47% of all people aged 16-74 years in the EU saw untrue or doubtful information on news websites or social media during the three months prior to the survey. However, only around a quarter (23%) of people verified the truthfulness of the information or content.
This information comes from data on ICT usage in households and by individuals published by Eurostat here.
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The share of people aged 16-74 years old, who verified information found on online news sites or social media in the previous 3 months, was largest in the Netherlands (45%), followed by Luxembourg (41%) and Ireland (39%). However, the smallest share was recorded in Lithuania (11%), followed by Romania (12%) and Poland (16%). Latvia was closer to the bottom end with 19%, while Estonia was above the EU average with 25%
In the EU, people aged 16-74 years old primarily checked if the information was truthful by checking the sources or finding other information on the internet (20%). People also checked information by discussing it with other persons offline, or using sources not on the internet (12%). The least popular method was checking by following or taking part in an internet discussion regarding the information (7%).