Most Moldovans back authorities' decision to block sites with fake news - poll

Chisinau, 9 April /MOLDPRES/ - Most Moldovans have welcomed the authorities’ decision to block access to a number of websites which were spreading fake news in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was supported by 73 per cent of the respondents of an opinion poll presented by IMAS today.   

According to the poll, only one per cent declared against the decision on blocking the sites which were promoting fake news. This decision is not important for another 17 per cent of the people questioned. Another 9 per cent were not able to answer this question.  

The survey also shows that Moldova’s citizens learned to make difference between a true story and a fake one. According to the opinion poll, 58 percent of the respondents said that, in the last 30 days, they had not trust the stories which afterwards proved to be false. Another 29 per cent of the respondents said that they had got in the trap of fake news, which they described as truthful. About 13 per cent of the polled people did not know what to answer.   

Under the same poll, 58 per cent of the respondents say that the existence of fake news represent a problem for Moldova, while 22 per cent believe that they create problems, to a certain extent. The fake news certainly represents a problem for 4 per cent and another 5 per cent say that these stories not always create difficulties. As much as 36 per cent of the interviewed citizens said that they had heard fake news about Coronavirus each day on this period, 18 per cent – at least once per week, 4 per cent – many times per month and 26 per cent – quite rarely or never.  

The opinion poll was conducted by phone on a sample of 1,020 respondents from all Moldovan districts on the period 31 March – 8 April. The error margin is of 3.1 per cent. The poll’s beneficiary is the Public Media Company.