Most of us know not to believe everything on social media, but a new survey reveals that Americans only think about a third (37%) of the content they see on social media is “real,” or doesn’t involve edits, filters or Photoshop. Between AI and “deep fake” videos, 74% of respondents say they can’t tell what’s fake and what’s real.
The poll of 2-thousand U.S. adults split evenly between baby boomers, Gen X, millennials and Gen Z finds:
- Americans are cautious of both targeted ads (14%) and influencer content (18%), and about half (52%) question the legitimacy of either one equally.
- And it’s not just on social media, 41% have trouble determining if something they’re looking to buy is “real” or a “dupe” online and 36% have the same trouble when shopping in person.
- People spend an average of 15 minutes deciding if something is a “real” designer item or a knockoff “dupe.”
- Respondents were asked to determine whether specific things were “real” or a “dupe” or “fake” and 35% said GMO vegetables are real, while 42% said cryptocurrency is real.
- On the flip side, 41% dubbed lab-grown diamonds fake, 52% said plastic surgery is fake and 40% called Chatbots and AI fake.
- A quarter of both Gen Z and baby boomers say photos that have been enhanced with color or details are dupes, more than any other generations polled.
- A third (33%) of respondents say they only own real items, 36% own both real and dupes, while 7% say they only own dupes.
- More than two-thirds (71%) think it will become harder to determine what’s real and what’s not over the next 10 years.
Source: SWNS Digital