According to the survey of 1,900 Americans, 98% distrust information found on the Internet, with 94% saying "bad things can happen as a result of acting on inaccurate information online."
Reasons Americans distrust information on the Internet include:
Too many ads – 59%
Outdated information – 56%
Information is self-promotional – 53%
Unfamiliar forums – 45%
The 94% who worried that "bad things" could happen were mostly concerned about wasting their time (67%). Other fears included getting a computer virus (63%), losing money (51%), risk of fraud (51%) and damaging their credibility (36%).
The study was sponsored by Mancx, a company offering trusted answers for business questions. Instead of posting a question on a site like Quora or Yahoo Answers, Mancx is a business question-and-answer website that allows individuals to securely buy and sell their knowledge with others.