Facebook most-used yet least-trusted news source – survey

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

Filipinos rely on Facebook more than any other media platform, yet they trust it least as a source of news, according to new survey data released Friday by research firm WR Numero.

About 62% of Filipinos use Facebook daily, the highest share among any platform tracked in the March 2024 Philippine Public Opinion Monitor. The same survey found 39% identifying Facebook as the platform they trust the least, followed by TikTok at 24%.

Television emerged as the country’s most trusted news source by a wide margin at 50%. Its reach, however, has slipped from 66% in 2020 to 46% in 2024, a decline WR Numero attributed to shifting consumption habits among younger Filipinos.

WR Numero Senior Research Associate Buboy Figueroa said the findings reflect the “quiet contradiction” of everyday media life for millions of Filipinos.

Rather than ignorance of misinformation, Figueroa argued, the problem is “built into the platforms people cannot afford to leave, and the habits that have quietly formed around them.”

Nearly 2 in 3 Filipinos, or 63%, believe misinformation is prevalent in the country. Concern runs highest among Millennials at 71% and Gen Zs at 66% — the cohorts most engaged on digital platforms.

Skepticism extends to traditional media. A majority of Filipinos, 55%, said journalists are biased and have vested interests, with Millennials at 63% and Gen Zs at 57% recording the highest levels of distrust.

Older Filipinos, whose media habits developed before the rise of social media and influencer-driven news, appear more inclined to give journalists the benefit of the doubt. Fewer than half of the Silent Generation at 35%, Baby Boomers at 49%, and Gen X at 48% agree that journalists are biased.

What cuts across all generations is the demand for verification. 4 in 5 Filipinos, or 80%, agree the country needs fact-checkers.

Figueroa cautioned, however, that fact-checking alone cannot address misinformation because false news spreads faster and farther than the truth. The overwhelming support for fact-checkers, he said, signals demand for a media system Filipinos can trust rather than endorsement of fact-checking’s current state.

“Far less attention has been paid to what forms of fact-checking content actually work for the Filipino news consumer—one that accounts for their diverse media diets, trust orientations, and vernacular content,” Figueroa said.

The findings come from the March 2024 edition of the WR Numero Philippine Public Opinion Monitor, with a nationwide margin of error of ±2% at the 95% confidence level. Subnational margins of error stand at ±6% for the National Capital Region and ±5% each for North and Central Luzon, South Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.(Shutterstock photo)