Young Romanians, convinced that they know how to identify disinformation

A Eurobarometer survey conducted in the fall of 2024 reveals that 19% of young Romanians claim that they have never been exposed to disinformation in the last week, the highest percentage in the European Union. They are followed by young people in Bulgaria (11%) and those in Lithuania and Estonia (10% each).

• Perception of disinformation

Only 22% of young Romanians believe that they have been very often exposed to disinformation, and a similar proportion say that they have been exposed frequently, figures close to the EU average (15% very often and 29% frequently). Also, 24% say that they have been sometimes exposed to disinformation, while 10% rarely. On the other hand, 70% of respondents at European level believe that they can recognize disinformation, with the most closed-off young people in Malta (38%) and Croatia (36%), and the least confident in Austria, Slovenia and Germany (27%). Young Romanians declare themselves confident in their ability to identify disinformation: 31% are very confident, 50% somewhat confident, 14% less confident and only 2% not at all confident.

The Eurobarometer survey was conducted by Ipsos between 25 September and 3 October 2024 in all 27 EU Member States, on a sample of 25,863 young people aged between 16 and 30.

• Priority of young Romanians compared to the average

When it comes to priorities for the European Union in the next five years, 41% of young Romanians indicated the economic situation and job creation, 32% education and training, and 31% social protection and access to healthcare. At the European level, the main concerns are the increase in prices and the cost of living (40%), the environment and climate change (33%), and the economic situation and job creation (31%).

• Attitude towards the European Union

Otherwise, 42% of young Romanians are favorable to the European Union and the way it works, a higher percentage than the European average (31%). Another 37% support the EU, but are not satisfied with its current way of functioning, and 15% are skeptical, but open to change in the event of a reform. Only 2% of young Romanians do not believe in the idea of the European Union at all, compared to the EU average of 6%.

• Main sources of information

When it comes to sources of information, 33% of young Romanians prefer social media platforms (compared to 42% at EU level), 29% television (39% in EU) and 21% online press (26% in EU). Among social networks, the most used for information are Facebook and YouTube (42%), TikTok (35%), Instagram (33%) and X (formerly Twitter) with 12%. At European level, Instagram is the main source of information (47%), followed by TikTok (39%), YouTube (37%), Facebook (27%) and X (21%).