Misinformation According to News Audiences: What Do Audiences in the US and the Netherlands Characterize As Misinformation Versus Credible Information on Climate Change?

Although misinformation has been regarded as an urgent global risk, empirical evidence on its prevalence is scarce. Yet, news users across different countries believe that about half of all information they see is misinformation. Such heightened risk perceptions can have severe ramifications, as people who perceive that misinformation prevails may systematically distrust or avoid all established information. Yet, we currently lack evidence on how misinformation is perceived by news users, and how they distinguish it from accurate information. Therefore, we rely on the analysis of experienced misinformation versus credible information regarding the issue of climate change submitted by participants via hyperlinks in surveys across the US and the Netherlands (N = 1,396). Our main findings indicate that perceived misinformation encompasses a wide range of information disorders and sources whilst being infused with partisan biases. Perceptions of credible information are more consensual and echo ideal types of trustworthy information from credible, authoritative sources. Our findings illustrate how news users perceive the boundary between real and false information, which may offer a useful starting point for interventions aiming to raise awareness about the distinction between misinformation and reliable news.