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Summary of key results

The following report presents results from the Nordic Media Literacy Survey. The survey was conducted for the first time in early 2025 and is the result of a collaboration between the governmental media authorities in the Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The project was financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Media literacy is an umbrella term including key competencies necessary to navigate the media landscape with awareness and to actively participate in a democratic society. It is about attitudes, skills and knowledge to find, evaluate and critically assess media content, as well as to be able to create and act using different forms of communication.

About the survey

The overarching goal of the Nordic Media Literacy Survey is to assess aspects of media literacy, and identify strengths and weaknesses, in the Nordic countries. The survey results will provide a knowledge base to be used in efforts to promote media literacy. Two complementary questionnaires targeting different groups in the population were developed for the survey. The first questionnaire addressed adults aged 16+ years in all five Nordic countries. The second questionnaire was adapted to children and youth aged 9 to 15 years and conducted in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The survey was conducted via web panels in each country. In the section Nordic Perspectives, following the analysis, the survey is discussed and placed in each country's context in separate articles.
The survey questionnaires and the subsequent analyses presented in this report are structured around different aspects of media literacy based on key proficiencies identified in a model created by Professor Ulla Carlsson (Carlsson, 2023). The following is a summary of a few selected key findings relating to these proficiencies from each chapter of the report.

Key findings from the adult survey

1. Understand media and social media platforms in a democratic society 

  • Majorities view legacy media, such as TV news and daily newspapers, as credible and fair in depicting events, and as strengthening freedom of speech and democracy.
  • Social media platforms are widely used by the younger age groups. They are by most age groups valued for diverse voices/opinions and for supporting free speech, but they score low on credibility and fair depiction of events.
  • Trust in media is clearly linked to age. Older age groups almost invariably put higher trust in legacy media, regardless of which aspects are rated, e.g. in providing relevant information about current events and in being credible sources of information. With regard to news on television or in newspapers: The younger age groups are insecure rather than negative. Outright distrust in legacy media is low across all ages.
  • Across the Nordic countries, the role of journalists – such as informing on current events, scrutinising power, enabling informed choice – is considered important and highly valued by respondents.

2. Understand how media and social media platforms work and provide content

  • Misconceptions about financing and accountability are not uncommon. For example, among young adults (aged 25–34 years) about one in four believe Facebook has an editor-in-chief or a public service mandate, respectively.
  • Inhabitants in the Nordic countries seem to have a general understanding of journalistic work ethics. Most respondents know that publishing rules require factuality, fair treatment of individuals, and privacy protection. For a media literate person, this may have a bearing on how journalistic content is assessed, compared to user generated content.
  • The majority of respondents are aware of the possibility of reporting posts that violate the terms of use to social media platforms. Still, about one in three indicate being unaware of this possibility.

3. Responsible and safe use of media and digital services 

  • Respondents report a very high sense of personal responsibility to comply with regulations and recommended behaviour online. Online safety behaviour and actions to protect privacy are common but vary by country and age. Younger respondents are more aware and apply more strategies, for example to verify suspicious information, than the older respondents. This suggests that older citizens in particular may be in need of further knowledge about fact checking strategies.

4. Critically Assess Media Content

  • In a test with a general search for a product, paid ranking of search results is recognised by a majority of respondents. Nonetheless, significant shares of the population lack awareness of such mechanisms and erroneously believe other principles organise search results. The same applies to identifying the source behind a post in a list of search results. Being aware of the source or sender is important to be able to assess the value of the information.
  • When testing the respondents’ ability to identify different types of content in an online news site, uncertainties were identified. Whether content is editorial or commercial in an online news site will have impact on how it will be assessed.

5. Use and Create Content in Media

  • Fear of being attacked significantly limits participation online. About four out of ten participants refrain from posting or commenting on social media due to fear of attacks, at least once a month. More than one in ten refrains from participating in online discourse on a daily basis out of fear of repercussions.
  • Confidence in one’s own ability to operate online services is generally high. Most respondents also feel that they would be able to assist others with online tasks.
  • A majority state that they often find the information they seek online, that they believe they can evaluate media trustworthiness, and that they evaluate news sources' factuality before sharing with others. However, at the same time only a third of participants feel they receive good information from people or accounts they follow on social media.
  • The oldest and youngest age groups are both less confident in their ability to evaluate media trustworthiness or find information online.
  • About one in three participants in the younger half of the study population (aged 16–44 years) find it difficult to stay up to date with news and/or to take in the news. Older respondents (55+ years) find it far easier.

6. AI – Use and Attitudes

  • Close to half of the respondents have used an AI service in the last three months. There are clear age differences. In the youngest age group, almost three out of four respondents have been using AI services, while in the oldest group it is less than one in five.
  • Younger adult respondents (16–54 years) more often see both positive and negative aspects of AI. Older adults (55+ years) are far more likely to say that they don’t know, when it comes to attitudes towards AI, indicating significant uncertainty and/or a lack of understanding of AI services.
  • Respondents who have used an AI service within the past three months generally hold a more favourable view of AI’s positive contributions. However, both users and non-users share similar attitudes towards statements expressing negative concern, such as whether AI complicates discerning genuine information from falsehoods or the concern for its influence on media content and pace of development. 

Key findings from the youth survey

1. Understand media and social media platforms in a democratic society

  • Young people (aged 9 to 15 years) most often stay updated on news via social media and TV. Social media is their greatest source of news, yet their trust in social media as a source of information is low. In contrast, TV news is generally considered trusted and to be beneficial for democracy.
  • Attitudes towards newspaper articles are generally positive, but many are unsure of their role and function. Although young people with opinions on this agree that newspapers support freedom of expression and provide important information, the share of respondents answering ‘don’t know’ is high, ranging from 20 to 47 percent across the five countries.
  • Quality journalism is widely endorsed by the Nordic youth. The majority agree that it is important that journalists scrutinise power and present diverse views. The respon­dents want to hold journalists to a high standard; for example, the majority strongly agree that journalists should ensure the accuracy of the information they report.

2. Understand how media and social media platforms work and provide content

  • Common media financing models are generally well understood by the larger portion of the youth, but significant groups misattribute financing models or cannot provide answers. About half of respondents know that public service media are tax-funded and that commercial media are ad-funded. However, a significant portion of the respondents also believe that commercial media are tax funded.
  • Social media use under the platforms’ required age limits is common. Despite many platforms having an age limit of 13 years, daily use among 9–12-year-olds is substan­tial: About a third of them use Tiktok and Snapchat, respectively, on a daily basis.
  • About two out of three respondents are aware of the possibility to report rule breaking content, but less than one in five say that they have done so.

3. Responsible and safe use of media and digital services 

  • Online safety and actions to protect privacy are common. Most young people do something to protect themselves, e.g. avoiding chatting with strangers and blocking accounts. Many also change privacy settings or delete search history. Still, about one in three of the Nordic youth have taken no protective action in the last three months.
  • Most young people report having seen information they believe to be false in the last three months. Furthermore, about one in five answer that they are unsure whether they have, indicating difficulty distinguishing true from false. In the youngest age group (9–12 years), this proportion rises to about one in three.
  • Judging authenticity is hard for most young people. Only one in five respondents find it easy or very easy to tell if information is genuine. To verify content or information, most of the respondents ask someone trusted, followed by online searches and comparing information with trusted news sources.

4. Critically Assess Media Content

  • A majority correctly identified that paid content ends up at the top of listed search results. Yet significant shares (10–20 percent) of respondents fail to understand product search result rankings.
  • Young people struggle to distinguish news from other editorial sections on news sites; uncertainty likely reflects limited newspaper reading.

5. Use and Create Content in Media

  • Most youth rarely post or comment on social media – about one in four do either of these on a weekly basis. Almost as many, around one in five, refrain daily from commenting due to fear of being attacked.
  • Operational confidence is strong, and more than half of respondents’ state that they would be able to help others with basic digital communication tasks, such as posting on social media or sending an email.
  • More of the young respondents agree than not that it is hard to judge which media sources they can trust and that it is difficult to stay up to date with the news. About one in four respondents say that they avoid the news altogether. Although young people are very familiar with social media, many state that it is difficult to determine who is behind a social account or profile.
  • The majority report that they often find what they search for online, yet only a minority assess whether information is genuine before sharing it and an even smaller portion regularly visit multiple sources to verify information.

6. AI – Use and Attitudes

  • About four in ten of the young people have used an AI service in the past three months, with a similar result across all countries. The older are more likely to have used AI: About half of the 13–15-year-olds and a third of the 9–12-year-olds have used an AI service.
  • A very high share of young respondents is unable to give an opinion regarding AI (i.e. a large share of 'don’t know' -replies). Among those with opinions, young people tend to think AI is developing too fast and show limited confidence that AI provides accurate/​trustworthy information or benefits democracy.
  • Recent users view AI more favourably while non-users are less prone to give an opinion. However, aligning with the result in the adult survey, both groups are similarly concerned about risks e.g. regarding influence on news and information.

Reference:

Carlsson, U. (2023). Medie- och informationskunnighet (MIK): Begreppet och kunskapen. In U. Carlsson, P.-M. Wehrling, & K. Westling (Eds.), Medie- och informationskunnighet (MIK) för ett demokratiskt medborgarskap: Rapport från nationell MIK-konferens 2022 (pp. 37–46). Förvaltningen för kulturutveckling, Västra Götalandsregionen. 
Nordic Council of Ministers I www.norden.org/publications I pub@norden.org