What if the best weapon against disinformation was learning? A study by CNRS published in 2025 brings good news: teenagers’ ability to spot fake news can be significantly strengthened through education and the development of critical thinking.
Teenagers Facing Fake News: A Hyperconnected and Vulnerable Generation
In 2024, 84.7% of 15-24 year-olds (6.6 million young people) connected to the Internet every day, spending nearly 4 hours online daily. This is significantly more than the overall population, of which 74.7% surf the internet each day.
This hyperconnectivity makes them a prime target for disinformation campaigns, whether political, commercial, or ideological. And this phenomenon starts early: 63% of 7-10 year-olds already use at least one social network in France.
Faced with this observation, researchers from LaPsyDÉ (Laboratory of Developmental and Educational Psychology) wanted to understand: how does the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood develop, and above all, how can it be strengthened?
3 Tests to Understand Young People’s Critical Thinking
To understand truth discernment in teenagers, LaPsyDÉ researchers conducted a study with middle school students aged 11 to 14.
Test #1: Identifying Fake News
The protocol: evaluate the veracity of publications imitating social media posts, without the possibility of verification.
The results:
- The older the teenagers, the better they spot fake news
- At 14, their discernment is significantly sharper than at 11
This observation is confirmed by other research (OPNAN/CLEMI): critical thinking strengthens with age and digital experience.
Test #2: Resisting Brain Traps
The protocol: cognitive reflection test with trick questions. Example: “A ball and a bat cost €110. The bat costs €100 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?” (Instinctive answer: €10 / Correct answer: €5)
The results:
- About half of adults aged 18-34 answer correctly, compared to less than a quarter of 11-14 year-olds
- Moreover, the teenagers who best identified fake news (1st test) are those who showed better reasoning ability (2nd test)
Marine Lemaire, doctoral student at LaPsyDÉ, explains: “The first system is automatic, intuitive, low-cost in cognitive energy and, while it allows us to respond quickly to everyday situations, it can be wrong in certain trap situations. The second system, deliberative, is much slower and more energy-intensive. It takes time to reflect before responding.”
Teenagers capable of activating this “system 2” are naturally more resistant to disinformation.
Test #3: The Repetition Effect
The protocol: present half of the news items before the test (under the pretext of another exercise), then mix them during the evaluation.
The results:
“The more we see information, the more we tend to believe it’s true. It’s a very robust bias, detected from the age of 5,” specifies Marine Lemaire
- No one is immune: neither age nor reasoning ability protects against this effect, also present in adults
Early Access to Social Networks: The Real Danger for Minors
At 11, children cannot yet clearly distinguish truth from falsehood. Yet many are already exposed to viral, sometimes manipulative content, while age verification on platforms remains largely declarative.
Faced with this observation, Australia became on December 10, 2024, the first country in the world to ban social media access for those under 16. Platforms risk fines for non-compliance.
In France, the government announced at the end of December 2025 its intention to ban social networks for those under 15 starting September 2026. This movement is also spreading to other countries: Denmark, Norway, Spain, and New Zealand have also announced their intention to regulate minors’ access to social networks, although no specific timeline has been defined.
How to Protect Young People from Fake News: Solutions and Best Practices
The study demonstrates it: reasoning ability is crucial for identifying fake news. The good news? It can be developed. It is therefore possible to act concretely to help young people distinguish truth from falsehood.
- Education side: developing critical thinking before exposure
Raising young people’s awareness of cognitive biases and strengthening their critical thinking before they are massively exposed to social networks is essential.
The challenge? Finding the right balance between two extremes: naively believing everything you see or, conversely, doubting everything to the point of falling into conspiracy theories.
Researchers recommend cultivating reasonable doubt, a simple reflex to adopt: “If something catches my attention, I take a few seconds to think.”
- Content creators side: acting at the source of the problem
But developing critical thinking is not enough. Faced with the proliferation of manipulated content and deepfakes, it becomes crucial to be able to distinguish authentic content from falsified or diverted content.
This is why content certification from creation represents an essential complementary lever. Certiphy.io allows digital creations to be certified and timestamped, thus establishing clear traceability that helps identify reliable sources.
Fake News and Teenagers: Act Now to Better Protect Tomorrow
Teenagers are not defenseless against fake news. With appropriate education and certification tools, we can cultivate reasonable doubt while guaranteeing the transparency and traceability of authentic content. Critical thinking can be learned, and now is the time to act.
Source : CNRS Le Journal, Fake news : les adolescents peuvent se défendre
Médiamétrie : Les 15-24 ans : des pratiques médias intensives, individuelles et connectées
