People Would Support Fake News Alerts from ISPs and Mobile Networks—Survey

Half of Britons would trust their broadband or mobile provider more if the networks pro-actively alerted users to the quality and objectivity of news websites they view.

A new YouGov survey, commissioned by news-rating site NewsGuard, surveyed 1,017 Britons about their attitudes toward news rating systems. The survey found that many would be receptive to receiving these labels from their ISP.

NewsGuard provides “Nutrition Label” write-ups on 2,000 news and information sites, which cover 96% of online engagement in the United States and are expending to the UK.

 Their analysts, experienced journalists of varied backgrounds, label and rank websites based on how trustworthy they are, in an effort to combat Trump’s favourite boogeyman, ‘fake news.’

NewsGuard currently offers a free browser extension which displays these labels but wants broadband providers to integrate the system into their networks. If enacted, this system would mean any site you navigate to would automatically display a label analysing its trustworthiness, although presumably users would be able to opt out.

The survey, conducted between the end of June and beginning of July, indicates consumers would be in favour of such a system.

68% of those surveyed would find ratings and labels on news sites “valuable,” including a quarter (28%) of respondents who said such a system would be “very valuable.”

Half (51%) would trust their internet or mobile provider more if they provided these ratings as part of their service.

45% said that when looking for a new mobile phone or internet provider they would be more likely to consider a company that offered this service over one that didn’t.

Ed Vaizey, Conservative MP and advisor to NewsGuard, said: “This survey shows there is real concern in the UK with the plague of misinformation online, including delivered through the Silicon Valley social media and search companies. The good news is that it is within the control of UK broadband and mobile phone providers to help solve this problem for the families who use their services to access the internet.

“With two-thirds of people in the UK saying they would find information about the reliability of news websites valuable and most saying they would trust their internet or mobile phone provider more just for providing this kind of information, there is a big opportunity for the providers to do more to protect UK families from misinformation and hoaxes online,” he added.

Co-CEO of NewsGuard Steven Brill told ISPreview.co.uk: “UK citizens are rightly concerned about the amount of misinformation online targeting their families, which includes false reporting about health issues such as vaccines. NewsGuard is a practical, easy to use product that censors or blocks nothing while providing information about the reliability of any website purporting to publish news.”