The internet was once a wide-open space of wonder and curiosity for our children—a place to learn, laugh, and connect. But in a single generation, it has also become a confusing and often deceptive environment where falsehoods spread at lightning speed. A sweeping new UK-wide study by Internet Matters, drawing on the voices of 2,000 parents and 1,000 children aged 9 to 17, has captured this reality with startling clarity. Where parents used to raise an eyebrow at their kids’ screen time, they are now fretting just as much about whether those kids can tell truth from wobbling, shimmering lie. Three-quarters of parents and carers (73%) today say they are deeply concerned about the false information their children encounter online—a gigantic leap from 49% just five years ago, in 2020. This means misinformation has climbed from a fringe worry to the very top of the parental anxiety chart, standing shoulder-to-shoulder next to the old classics like too many hours on the device and staring at social media. It’s the twitch of a centered brow, the evening battle plan conversation. We are no longer only worrying about how long our children are online; we are worrying about whether they know they’re being spun a story.
But the truth is even more sobering when we sit beside the kids themselves. Seven in ten children (68%) say they feel negatively affected by misinformation online—whether it leaves them anxious, paranoid, or simply worn down. And almost two-thirds of them (64%) admit they have encountered false or misleading content, including deepfakes and AI-generated trickery, within just six months. Craving their easy distraction, they may stumble across a joyride video that is edited to make it seem real, or a health fad from an anonymous influencer, or a slick-looking news article that has not been vetted by any editor. Their trust is beginning to erode. Children tell researchers they now feel worried, confused, less trusting of what they see; some suf “an inability to separate fact from fiction” in the same newsfeed that once seemed so credible. And when asked where these illusions show up, the answer is unsettlingly specific: TikTok leads the pack at 47%, followed by YouTube (38%), Instagram (27%) and Facebook (26%). These aren’t dark corners of the internet—they are the very apps where children hang out” with “”
The arrival of sophisticated AI has made the situation far more complicated. Misleading content can hide in adverts, social media hoaxes, phishing emails, articles, or sponsored posts, and generative tools enable anyone with a keyboard to create lifelike videos, images, and voices. The victims of this forge can be so convincing that even adults get fooled. Look at the wild popularity of YouTuber MrBeast, whose name and likeness have been repeatedly wrestled by scammers into fake videos and apps. Last year a convincing hoax claimed the famous giver was offering children free gaming currency or consoles in exchange for personal information—a trap that could soon entangle a child’s curiosity and better judgment. Or consider the bizarre spirit of recent campus “phone charging” videos in 2025, where students appeared to stick objects into laptop ports to create sparks and smoke. While some real incidents did happen at a few schools, social media amplification made it seem as though it was happening in every classroom, creating fear and confusion among pupils, parents, and educators alike. This new medium of “frictionless deceit” makes it difficult for anyone—especially a child’s developing brain—to separately verify what’s reliable from what’s merely generated.
There’s one additional worry cropping up: our own coping strategies might be flawed. The Internet Matters survey found that nearly a third of parents (30%) and about a quarter of children (23%) have turned to AI itself to check whether fact from fiction is true. But here’s the double-edged sword—AI can give incorrect answers just as easily as it can provide clarity. It can sound confident while being completely wrong, offering a false sense of certainty that undermines the whole point of critical thinking. Meanwhile, almost a quarter of kids (23%) admit they are not confident in recognising misinformation, meaning a whole generation is being asked to calibrate a compass without a map. Our own ultimate guides are struggling too: teachers. Children have long relied on parents, carers, and teachers for online safety advice, yet a deep 85% of school staff are flagging that they are finding it harder and harder to tell what’s real and what’s fake online. The ground beneath adults is shifting, so how can the ground underble children stand?
This is exactly what prompted Internet Matters to launch their new interactive “Find the Fake” quiz—a hands-on, colourfully designed resource that families can use side by side. The challenge takes the form of a friendly, game-like experience that teaches both adults and children to spot scams, fake news, and AI-manipulated content without turning learning into a them-or-us lecture. At its most gentle, it subtlety aims to train the eye: “What’s real here?” It’s a clever way to reframe a scary problem into a fun family challenge. As Rachel Yellings, CEO of Internet Matters, explains: “While AI has brought many benefits, it has elongated the problem of misinformation by making it easier to create unrecognizable fake content, spread disinformation quickly, and blur the line between fact and fiction. As a result, children face greater challenges in identifying trustworthy information online—which can have harmful consequences, especially now.” She adds: “We have always believed parents, carers and schools are the first line of youth defense. Practical tools, expert guidance, and educational resources help kids develop the poll of critical thinking and question what they are told.” Parent and author Neha, who pens the Cyber Ved Kids series, echoes that reminder: “Children learn and remember better through play, not just classroom teaching. Tools like Find the Fake are brilliant because they turn a serious challenge into an interactive, fun experience that helps families build critical thinking skills together—without feeling like a lecture.” It’s a warm, hand-on approach that has attracted key stakeholders, with the promise of making wisdom stick.
But this isn’t a job for one quiz alone. It begins with a shared obligation between parents, teachers, and technology companies to arm children with digital judgment. Dana Helen, Chief Sustainability Officer at Virgin Media O2, explains why their company is backing the campaign: “Virgin Media O2 is honored to back Internet Matters’ Find the Fake campaign, which comes at a truly critical time, when it’s become harder than ever to tell what is real online. False information and fake images can leave children confused or misled, which is crucial to why we want to help them build the critical thinking skills they need to adapt to how the internet is changing, while staying safe and enjoying the digital experiences they love.” She adds that it fits into their digital wellbeing strategy, which aims to support six million people in navigating the online world with confidence. There is no single magic bullet, but the combination of an engaging quiz, deeper literacy in schools, and a commitment from tech backers create a powerful safety net. The biggest need for broadened human understanding is that we must all be role models—finding a balance between suspicion and trust, and helping our children understand that the online world is not dangerous in itself but must be seen with open eyes and a detective’s curiosity.
Parents and children can both feel lost in this new digital landscape, but the message at the heart of this survey is a hopeful one—people can learn. Yes, misinformation is a growing worry, and yet there are simple, practical tools like “Find the Fake” that make effective to boost a problem. The data is a wake-up call: 73% of worried parents, 68% of affected children, but also a vision of what could be done with a little help. The role of caregivers is not to raise digital skeptics who void everything, but to raise curious, resiliental kids who question, reflect, and eventually navigate the online world with confidence. And as adult faces grow comfortable at home, at school, and in companies that evangelize digital literacy, we are guided by a message to be powerful: when we teach a child to ask “Wait, is that real?” we are giving them the torch of critical thought that will light the past through a thousand falsehoods. Because the internet will never stop surrounding the new with fake, but we can raise a generation that knows better. Together—with patience, creativity, and these interactive tools—they can learn to spot what’s real, question what’s not, and keep the magic and wonder of the digital world alive, safe and true.