Six in ten young people fear false claims and AI content could mislead voters, as Government moves to lower the voting age
The Government is moving to lower the voting age to 16 and 17 with an Elections Bill. This is intended to engage voters early and ensure young people feel represented in our democracy.
Recent research by Internet Matters and Full Fact shows how lowering the voting age presents an opportunity to strengthen democratic participation, but is not a guarantee.
The survey of more than 550 young people aged 13-17, and over 800 parents and carers across the UK, found that young people do not feel well equipped to assess the news, politics and current affairs they encounter online from a young age. This includes young people’s confidence in judging the accuracy, intent and credibility of information they encounter online - all core media literacy skills that feed into how people interpret the information that informs their vote.
Without targeted support, many newly enfranchised voters may struggle to engage confidently or meaningfully in democratic life, with a risk of disengagement from political participation at an early age.
Our joint briefing is available here, and below is a summary of the key findings and our recommendations for Government and Parliament as the Elections Bill moves forward.
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Key findings
Children are navigating political content well before voting age: 78% of young people say they have seen content about news, politics or current affairs online. This exposure begins well before voting age: Nearly three in four (74%) young people aged 13-14 report seeing this type of content online, rising to 81% among 15- to 17-year-olds.
Children lack foundational skills for evaluating political information: Only 53% say they feel confident telling whether this information is true or false. Similarly, only 59% feel confident distinguishing fact from opinion, and 56% are confident recognising when political and current affairs content is satirical rather than intended to be taken literally.
Misinformation and AI are undermining trust in elections: 63% of young people say they are concerned about voters being misled by false or misleading claims during elections. 60% are concerned that AI-generated content may affect the results of a general election and the same number ignore what politicians and political parties say because they don’t know if they can trust them. This echoes research by Demos based on interviews of 700 16-18 year olds. One of five archetypes identified included the 'Critical Realist', who voiced distrust of politicians and the political system.
Parents think children are unprepared to make informed electoral decisions: 52% of parents say they do not think young voters are prepared to make informed decisions at the ballot box, including 23% who believe that young voters aged 16 and above are not at all prepared. Only 49% are confident in their child’s ability to recognise satire.
Young people believe there is shared responsibility for helping them to identify false or misleading information online, including across schools, parents and carers, government, and social media companies. At the same time, young people express strong support for interventions that would help them navigate political information more confidently. 79% say that social media platforms should be required to label or fact-check false or misleading information, and 75% believe schools should do more to teach young people how to evaluate political information.
Recommendations for Parliament and Government
Internet Matters and Full Fact are calling on Parliament and Government to take four immediate steps to ensure newly enfranchised voters are supported to participate confidently in democratic life:
- Schools must be supported to strengthen media and digital literacy across the curriculum through access to high-quality resources and comprehensive teacher training. A recent independent review of the curriculum in England highlighted the need to equip young people with the ability to make informed decisions and to help them to understand how opinions, AI-generated content and satire can all influence democratic participation.
- The government needs to establish a clear, coordinated national approach to media literacy, which should involve supporting young people and adults, including parents and carers. The Government should urgently publish its ‘vision statement’ on media literacy, setting out objectives, priorities and measures of success.
- The Government must commit to sustained funding to deliver media literacy education outside schools, including for the Electoral Commission to deliver evidence-based public information campaigns on issues such as misinformation.
- Parliament must require social media companies to support users’ media literacy on platforms, including labelling AI generated content, design features that support critical evaluation (e.g. read-before-you-share prompts and source information labels), and user controls for recommender systems.
Extending the vote to 16 and 17-year olds risks becoming a missed opportunity to strengthen democratic participation and trust in politics. Without targeted support, newly enfranchised voters may struggle to engage confidently in democracy.