Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1540561
4 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 22 OCTOBER 2025 NEWS CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 By contrast, only 48% of Mal- tese respondents said television is their main source of news, com- pared with 71% across the EU. Reliance on printed newspapers or their online versions is also slightly lower in Malta, at 38% versus 41% for the EU as a whole. Among those using social me- dia for current affairs, Facebook stands out as the dominant plat- form, with 87% of Maltese re- spondents citing it as their pre- ferred source—the highest share in Europe. This is well above the EU average, where Facebook and YouTube are each mentioned by around six in ten respondents. By contrast, only one in three Maltese (33%) turn to YouTube for political or social information, while just 20% mention TikTok— one of the lowest rates in the EU. Telegram use is also minimal, with only 4% citing it as a source of current affairs information. Scrolling into the news Maltese social media users are also among the most likely in Eu- rope to come across political and social news by chance. An over- whelming 93% said they some- times read such information while browsing, even when they were not actively searching for it—a proportion matched only by Cyprus. Despite this high exposure to information, Maltese respond- ents were the least likely in Eu- rope (24%) to say that television had become more important to them as a source of news over the past year, suggesting a strong shift toward online and mobile consumption. When it comes to content for- mat, half of Maltese respondents (50%) prefer short text-based posts—images with brief captions or status updates—while 48% opt for short videos of less than one minute. These preferences align with broader European trends but show a clear appetite for quick, visually engaging content. High exposure to disinformation The survey also highlights growing concerns about disinfor- mation. 45% of Maltese respond- ents said they had been "often" or "very often" exposed to fake news in the past week—one of the highest shares in the EU and a 17-point increase since 2022. This puts Malta alongside coun- tries like Spain (52%), Romania (55%), and Hungary (57%), all of which report rising encounters with misleading or false content online. When asked about how they verify information, half of Mal- tese respondents (50%) said they check the comments under posts to see what others are saying—a strategy that reflects both curios- ity and reliance on peer perspec- tives rather than traditional jour- nalistic verification. The rise of influencers Malta also tops the EU in fol- lowing influencers or content creators online. Just over half of respondents (51%) said they fol- low such figures—the highest share in Europe, narrowly ahead of Cyprus (50%). Among Maltese followers, half (50%) said they do so for product reviews, but political and moti- vational content also plays a sig- nificant role, each cited by 37%. Another 36% said they follow influencers to get a glimpse into their daily life or for tutorials. This trend underlines how so- cial media personalities are shap- ing how Maltese audiences en- gage with both consumer culture and public debate. The Eurobarometer survey on media and news habits was con- ducted in June 2025 by Ipsos through computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI), using on- line panels across the EU. In Mal- ta, 500 interviews were carried out, with a margin of error of ±4.4 percentage points. In total, the EU-wide survey included 26,121 interviews. A new Eurobarometer survey shows that 74% of Maltese get their information on social and political current affairs via social media, one of the highest rates in the EU, with Facebook emerging as the dominant platform for news and discussion Maltese among Europe's most active news seekers on social media Malta EU Facebook 87 58 Youtube 33 57 Instagram 35 46 Tiktok 20 31 WhatsApp 20 27 X 18 25 Linkedin 16 10 Threads 5 7 Telegram 4 13 Reddit 4 7 Snapchat 3 4 Malta EU Social Media 74 40 TV 48 71 Search engines 43 40 Friends/family 43 40 Printed/online newspapers 38 41 Radio 27 27 Which sources do you use to access information about current political affairs and social issues? National government 39 26 National politicians 27 23 Political parties 31 21 Local Government 26 20 Local politicians 35 17 EU institutions 28 13 EU politicians 20 11 EU political parties 13 9 International organisations 23 13 Which of the following, if any, do you actively follow on social media (e.g. by following their accounts or by regularly checking their feeds)?