For 4.5 million Italians, the only gateway to information is represented by social networks. No type of mediation: the network is everything and social networks are the only repositories of information, with all the set of exposure to those fake news that end up influencing worldviews and influencing choices.
It is one of the data contained in the Censis-Ital Communications Permanent Observatory on Communication Agencies in Italy. A report whose indications go straight to controversial points and balances placed even more in the balance by the combination of a web that has opened up to an enormous flow of information with news within everyone’s reach but in which it is difficult to orientate, choose and, on the other hand part, a Covid emergency that has faced the risks of bad information which, when not orchestrated by art, feeds on the activism of users and the sharing of unverified news, information, images.
The problem is now clear if it is true that 86.8% of Italians report that news that travels on the web should be subjected to more stringent rules and controls, to guarantee the user and the quality of the information, calling into question the managers of social networks. For 56.2%, it would also be necessary to provide for more severe penalties for those who deliberately spread false news.
With the pandemic, “false information on the disease and vaccines also arrived, leading to behaviors that have a decisive impact on the progress of infections. What happened reveals that rules and professionals are also needed on the web to ensure good communication ”, explains Massimiliano Valerii, general manager of Censis. The fact that 4.5 million Italians have social media as their only source is however worrying underlines Attilio Lombardi, founder of Ital Communications, especially to the extent that “the risk is to take refuge in a sort of closed space in which one learns only about the based on one’s own tendencies and inclinations “. It is the phenomenon of the so-called “echo chambers”, to which everyone, from generation Z to the elderly, is exposed. To defend oneself, the only weapon lies in greater skills and a critical spirit.
According to the Observatory, the most used social network for obtaining information is Facebook: 14.5 million Italians, equal to 30.1% of 14-80 year-olds with shares reaching 41.2% among graduates, 39.5% of 30-44 years old, 33% of women. However, there is also 12.6% who acquire information on Youtube (18% among young people) and 3% on Twitter (5% among the youngest).