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Study: Misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic

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Released: 2021-02-02

Almost all Canadians believed they saw misinformation on COVID-19 circulating online

Since the beginning of the pandemic, a lot of COVID-19 information has circulated online and on social media, and many Canadians have turned to online resources as a source of information.

A new study is being released today about how Canadians behave regarding the overload of information that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic. This analysis uses data from the fourth iteration of the Canadian Perspectives Survey Series: Information sources consulted during the pandemic.

Data from this survey show that the majority of Canadians who used online resources to obtain information about COVID-19 saw information they suspected to be misleading, false or inaccurate. About one in five Canadians always verified the accuracy of COVID-19 information found online; consulting other sources was the strategy they most often used. In addition, half of Canadians shared information related to COVID-19 that they were unsure was accurate.

  Note to readers

Statistics Canada's new Canadian Perspectives Survey Series (CPSS) is a probabilistic panel survey based on a subsample of respondents selected from the Labour Force Survey. The CPSS is representative of the general population.

There have been five waves of the CPSS to date. This analysis is based on data from Series 4, which was conducted from July 20 to 26, 2020.

Products

For more details, readers are invited to consult Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic, part of the StatCan COVID-19: Data to Insights for a Better Canada series (Catalogue number45280001).

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).

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