Are we raising a generation that can’t tell truth from total fiction, and what happens when the lies start to stick?

It’s tough being a university student these days. The job market for graduates is bleak, and the cost of living crisis is hitting students particularly hard.

If that isn’t bad enough, add the fact that this new generation is coming of age in an era characterised by wide-scale disinformation.

In recent years, social media platforms – from TikTok to X – have become mired in fake news. Anti-vax content, racist, sexist and antisemitic speech, bonkers fabrications: you name it, it’s online somewhere.

Gen Z should be able to spot truth from lies better than anyone else. After all, they are “digital natives” who have spent a larger portion of their lives on social media than anyone else.

And yet, according to a poll of 500 university students conducted by Dataquest Analytics for the Henry Jackson Society, even they are struggling.

Fewer than 1 in 10 students surveyed have never fallen for disinformation. Worryingly, nearly 17% say they have often believed something that turned out to be false, and another 47% say it has happened a few times.

This matters. Being duped by fake news is not without consequences. It impacts what we believe, who we vote for and, ultimately, how we lead our lives.

Take anti-vaxx conspiracy theories. They claim vaccines are dangerous and flourished during the Covid pandemic. 23% of students we surveyed did not take the Covid jab. Nearly 45% cited “concerns over vaccine safety” as the reason why.

But the damage does not stop here. We asked students whether, based on information they had seen online, they would have concerns about vaccinating their children. 30% said they would be “very concerned,” and a further 35% “somewhat concerned.”

Put simply, as many as 65% might hesitate or outright refuse to vaccinate their children – placing the UK below the threshold for herd immunity.

This is the direct product of unchecked disinformation. And it doesn’t stop at public health. Falsehoods fuels hate and threaten social cohesion. In the most extreme cases, they can even lead to violence.

This was the case in the aftermath of the Southport stabbings in July 2024, when three girls were stabbed to death by a lone attacker. Because he was a minor, the police couldn’t legally name him.

“The identity of a child aged between 10 and 17 charged with a crime will not be disclosed outside of court,” according to the Court Prosecution Services. This rule exists to protect the rights of child defendants and to avoid prejudicing their trial. In other words, it makes sure that justice is served.

But far-Right activists and conspiracy theorists saw it differently. The truth was being buried by the globalist Government. The attacker, they insisted, was a Muslim asylum seeker. This was false: the attacker was a British citizen born in the UK.

But the lie spread like wildfire online. And it had real-life consequences. Riots erupted across the country. A mosque was attacked, and missiles were thrown at the police.

More than a year later, disinformation about the Southport stabbings is still very much around. 21% of students we surveyed believed completely that the Southport attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker. Another 36% believed it somewhat.

This is striking. Although the record has been corrected again and again, more than half of respondents accepted the falsehood at least to some degree. But the polling revealed something else that was just as sinister. Nearly 20% said they were unsure what to believe, leaving only 23% who firmly rejected the false claim.

So, what can we do to stop disinformation?

In our new report “Breaking the Echo Chamber,” we acknowledge that it will be no easy feat. There is no magic bullet to restore the truth. But we should not be defeatist. Disinformation threatens the very foundations of our free society. We can no longer afford to be on the back foot.

In the short-term, we need to raise awareness about the dangers of disinformation. A public body, for instance, should issue “disinformation weather reports” to warn against emerging disinformation trends – just as the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre does for cyber-attacks.

In the medium-term, we will need to be more ambitious. Australia is setting an example. Starting next month, the country will ban teenagers under-16s from accessing social media, thus reducing early exposure to disinformation and extremist material. We should do the same.

We also need to seriously think about phasing out anonymous accounts – which are the source of so many falsehoods. And we have to get our education system up to speed with this new threat. Media literacy should become a core subject at schools and universities.

Only if we take a whole-of-society approach will we be able to inoculate ourselves against the virus of disinformation and achieve herd immunity.

_____________________

Dr Helena Ivanov and Dr Theo Zenou are the authors of the report "Breaking the Echo Chamber", published by the Henry Jackson Society

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email opinion@lbc.co.uk