The importance of the problem of disinformation
The vast majority of people in the countries surveyed (79%) consider the issue of disinformation to be important. The issue is considered most important by people in Slovenia and Finland, and least important by people in Poland and Slovakia. Poland also has the highest number of people (10%) who consider the issue of disinformation to be completely unimportant. The importance of the problem of disinformation is more strongly perceived by people over 55, with 87% of the population aged 66 and over considering this topic important. Education has a similar influence. People with a university degree are also more likely (83%) to consider disinformation an important issue to address.
The threat to national security posed by disinformation
The same percentage of people who consider disinformation to be a problem also believe that disinformation threatens national security. Here, the differences between countries are greater and do not always correlate with the perceived importance of this issue. For example, in Slovenia, although this issue is important, only 70% of the population considers the deliberate spread of disinformation to be a threat to national security. The opposite is true in Poland, where the group of people who perceive disinformation as a problem is the smallest by a few percentage points.
However, when it comes to security, Poland, together with Slovakia, has the highest number of people (46%) who said that the spread of disinformation definitely poses a danger. The Finns are the least convinced of this. The Czechs and Hungarians are somewhere between the two extremes. In this case, too, the group of people who perceive the threat most strongly are the oldest generation, aged 66 and over, where 84% of the population in each country fears that disinformation poses a threat to security. In contrast, people aged 35-54 perceive this danger slightly below average, specifically 76% of them.
Restricting disinformation through state intervention
When it comes to opinions on whether the state should limit or prevent the spread of disinformation, 68% of the population in the countries surveyed agree. This view is most commonly held by people in Poland (78%), followed by France (74%). Conversely, this view has the least support among citizens of Hungary (58%). As in previous cases, people over the age of 66 and those with a university education are more likely to support state intervention.
Combating disinformation from a Central European perspective
The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary show certain similarities when it comes to disinformation. Although most people consider the issue important, attitudes towards how to tackle it vary depending on the level of trust in the state and the media.
In the Czech Republic and Hungary, around four-fifths of the population considers disinformation to be an important problem, but fewer people than in most Western European countries believe that it actually threatens national security. In contrast, Poland and Slovakia are among the countries where a smaller proportion of the population considers it a significant problem, but at the same time, more people (around 46% in both countries) consider the spread of manipulative information to be a direct security threat.
The differences can be explained to a large extent by the political and media context. In Poland and Hungary, the public sphere is highly polarized, which is reflected in the perception of the role of the state: Poles are among the strongest supporters of active measures against disinformation (78% agree), while Hungarians are the most cautious in this regard (58%).
In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, general distrust of institutions plays a greater role. People perceive the issue as serious, but are less reliant on the state to intervene. These differences show that Central Europe remains a region where information security intersects with the question of state legitimacy and trust in democratic institutions. Effective defense against disinformation will therefore not consist solely of regulation or censorship, but above all of increasing media literacy, transparent communication by governments, and restoring social trust, which is perhaps the most vulnerable component throughout Central Europe.
Basic parameters
Research title: CEDMO Tracking (V4+5)
Main data collection period: Wave 2: September 15, 2025 – October 10, 2025
Target group: representative population aged 15
Method of selecting respondents: quota selection
Quota settings: according to the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ)
Quotas monitored: gender, age, education, region, size of place of residence
Collection method: CAWI survey using an online panel
Total sample: 2nd wave: n=19,022 (all countries): CZ n=1,996, SK n=1,979, EE n=2,057, FI n=2,071, FR n=2,470, DE n=2,306, HU n=2,063, PL n=2,156, SL n=1,924
*Data collection for the CEDMO Tracking survey was funded by the Czech National Recovery Plan as part of the project entitled MPO 60273/24/21300/21000 CEDMO 2.0 NPO.
