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A new study examining how the British public consume news and media has scientifically confirmed that approximately 95% of all Britons will believe literally any statistic they read on the Internet.
The findings, published recently in a journal that you’ve never heard of before but sounds scientific so is probably pretty good, seem to show a significant link between unsourced and unproven statistics that someone has made up on the Internet and the British public then believing those numbers to be true.
“When we started our research, we thought the number of British people who believe anything they read online would be pretty high,” says Dr Imogen Nary, the researcher helming the study.
“However, during our research, we found an article by another research team which said it could be even higher than we imagined, maybe even 95%.
“Basically, if you write it down and put it on the Internet, you’ll be amazed how many people will share it believing it to be true.”
Dr Nary said that, in particular, the study highlighted how quickly false information can be disseminated when no one actually bothers to look at the evidence and primary sources themselves, as is usually the case.
NewsThump researchers have seen the study themselves and they can confirm that that’s definitely what the report says, trust us.
Despite the alarming results, one spokesperson for the government has said that Boris Johnson is already aware of the trend, having used it as a cornerstone of his bus marketing campaign for years.
