At least 83% of Indian news consumers are concerned about fake news, and nearly 72% of them have a hard time distinguishing real information from made-up stories, a new BBC study said on Thursday. The survey comes at a time when an increasing number of fake news stories are circulating, especially on the internet, obstructing facts and swinging popular opinion.

The BBC’s study, titled ‘The Value of News – and the Importance of Trust’, also stated that close to 83% of its respondents said they were more inclined to refer to well-established news brands owing to the increasing circulation of fake news.

The student also measured recent trends in Indians news consumptio. At least 85% of the Indians surveyed felt that international news was more important now than ever before, the highest across the countries included in the study. Television was found to be the most popular platform for Indians to stay up-to-date with international news, with 93% saying they used it, followed by social media (80%), newspapers (62%), news apps (54%), websites (45%) and news aggregators (44%). It was revealed that 94% of Indian mobile phone users shared international news stories on messaging platforms, which again was the highest across the countries surveyed.

The BBC study also provided insights into the value of trust for brands advertising on media outlets. It was found that traditional news publishers were still the most trusted type of digital platform and the trust level for brands associated with these outlets was more than 40% higher than digital-only news websites.

In India, 69% said they would trust an advertiser more and almost three quarters (73%) said their brand consideration would increase if it were advertised on a trusted news channel or website. In addition, they were more inclined to read sponsored content on these sites (78% agreed). Conversely, more than seven out of ten people (71%) said that being associated with a distrustful media outlet would negatively affect their perception of a brand.