April 27, 2020

Ofcom has published its latest weekly research on how people are receiving and acting on news and information during the current coronavirus pandemic.

The report summarises the findings from week three of the lockdown, including how people’s experiences and behaviour has changed since the previous weeks. It shows, among other things, that:

• half of all respondents (50%) have come across false or misleading information about Covid-19, up from 46% in week one;
• theories linking the origins or causes of Covid-19 to 5G technology are now the most common pieces of false information (seen by 50% of those that have come across any misinformation);
• the proportion of people who are using fact-checking sites increased from 10% in week one of the lockdown to 18% in week two, before decreasing slightly to 15% in week three; and
• the proportion of people who say they are finding it hard to know what’s true or false about Covid-19 has decreased from 40% in week one, to 32% in week three.

Virtually all respondents continue to say they are closely following the official advice about practising social distancing (98%), only going outside for essential things (97%) and washing hands regularly (94%). To access the latest research, click here.