Gen Z, misinformation, and the TikTok trap: Why the most online generation struggles to spot fake news

Gen Z, misinformation, and the TikTok trap

A 2021 Stanford University study gave us a jolting look into Gen Z's media literacy struggle. When exposed to a video called "2016 Democrat Primary Voter Fraud CAUGHT ON TAPE" that was actually of ballot fraud in Russia, only three of the 3,446 high school students recognised the video as being Russian. The above example embodies a larger issue: while Gen Z is the most online generation, it's also frighteningly vulnerable to disinformation, Politico reported.

Digital natives, but not necessarily digitally literate

"There is this myth of the digital native," said researcher Joel Breakstone, "that because some people have grown up with digital devices, they are well equipped to make sense of the information that those devices provide. The results were sobering."

Social media sites such as TikTok and Instagram are now main sources of news for Gen Z, with 45% of 18–29-year-olds receiving news from TikTok alone. These sites, however, provide little editorial control. Added to this is AI-produced content and an accelerated news cycle, and it is easy for falsehoods to spread — and many young audiences don't have a clue how to fact-check them.

Misinformation is fuelled by distrust of institutions

Conspiracy theories have spread from challenging Helen Keller's success to blaming the government for controlling hurricanes — a sign of increased scepticism of authority among Gen Z. Just 16% express strong trust in the news media. That scepticism pushes them away from fact-checked journalism and into the orbit of niche creators whose work is frequently unfiltered.

Comment sections substitute for critical thinking

Fact-checking among Gen Z is often simply a matter of "aggregate trust," or checking comments. As with Yelp or Amazon reviews, youth rely on peer responses to determine truth. But algorithms sustain echo chambers, recommending videos to similar viewers and restricting exposure to counterarguments. This creates closed information loops — highly curated, personalized worlds in which misinformation can flourish.

Schools are educating the wrong skills

Ironically, the conventional methods of education can aggravate the situation. Students are conditioned to intensely scrutinise a single source rather than cross-referencing or employing lateral reading strategies such as instantly verifying claims using Google. This renders them susceptible to imitations crafted to look authentic.

A bipartisan vulnerability

Misinformation susceptibility is not a partisan problem. Both Trump supporters and detractors fall for AI-created clips or fake headlines that validate their own biases. A viral case in point: an AI-created Trump clip about renaming Washington, D.C., went viral with more than 250,000 likes before a clarification emerged — buried deep in the comments.

Can Gen Z catch up — or will the rest of us fall behind?

Behavioural researchers such as Rakoen Maertens are cautiously hopeful that Gen Z will become more discriminating with time and experience. But there's also fear that older generations will take on Gen Z's splintered media consumption, rendering misinformation an all-encompassing evil. And as algorithms become increasingly sophisticated, separating fact from fiction will become increasingly complicated.

A systemic challenge with far-reaching consequences

Gen Z's online learning behaviours are a symptom of a systemic breakdown in how we learn and consume information online. Fixing it involves a paradigm shift in digital learning, institutional trust, and platform responsibility — because at stake are not just different generations, but a society.