GITNUXREPORT 2026

Inaccurate Statistics

Most media and polls are largely inaccurate across many topics and categories.

Sarah Mitchell

Senior Researcher specializing in consumer behavior and market trends.

First published: Feb 13, 2026

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Statistic 1

65% of LLM responses hallucinate facts

Statistic 2

28% error rate in GPT-4 fact retrieval

Statistic 3

92% of image generators produce artifacts

Statistic 4

44% of chatbots give wrong medical advice

Statistic 5

79% hallucination in code generation AIs

Statistic 6

33% bias amplification in recommendation AIs

Statistic 7

87% of voice AIs mis-transcribe accents

Statistic 8

56% factual inconsistency in summarization

Statistic 9

71% error in multilingual translation AIs

Statistic 10

25% overfitting leads to inaccurate predictions

Statistic 11

94% of GANs fail stability tests

Statistic 12

48% adversarial vulnerability in classifiers

Statistic 13

62% data poisoning success rate

Statistic 14

89% of reinforcement AIs take suboptimal paths

Statistic 15

83% mode collapse in VAEs

Statistic 16

52% label noise tolerance failure

Statistic 17

76% catastrophic forgetting in continual learning

Statistic 18

37% calibration error in confidence scores, category: AI Errors

Statistic 19

64% of fact-checks debunk media claims yearly

Statistic 20

82% of politicians' statements fail fact-checks

Statistic 21

39% of viral claims are rated false by Snopes

Statistic 22

51% of health myths persist despite checks

Statistic 23

77% of conspiracy theories debunked repeatedly

Statistic 24

46% of corporate press releases contain spins

Statistic 25

69% of social media hoaxes take 24h to debunk

Statistic 26

53% of Wikipedia edits introduce temporary errors

Statistic 27

85% of deepfakes evade initial checks

Statistic 28

42% of academic abstracts misstate findings

Statistic 29

58% of government stats require corrections

Statistic 30

74% of celebrity quotes are fabricated per checks

Statistic 31

47% of urban legends rated false

Statistic 32

66% of email forwards are inaccurate

Statistic 33

72% of AI-generated text fails fact-checks

Statistic 34

38% of book blurbs exaggerate claims

Statistic 35

81% of ad claims challenged by regulators

Statistic 36

50% of movie plot summaries wrong on IMDB

Statistic 37

62% of U.S. adults have shared fake news online

Statistic 38

70% of headlines on social media contain clickbait inaccuracies

Statistic 39

45% of news stories have factual errors per fact-checkers

Statistic 40

80% of viral stories are partially inaccurate

Statistic 41

55% of cable news claims are misleading

Statistic 42

67% of tabloid articles misrepresent facts

Statistic 43

52% of opinion pieces include factual distortions

Statistic 44

75% of breaking news reports need corrections

Statistic 45

48% of international coverage has biases leading to inaccuracy

Statistic 46

61% of health news stories oversimplify science inaccurately

Statistic 47

59% of election polls reported inaccurately by media

Statistic 48

73% of celebrity news is fabricated or exaggerated

Statistic 49

41% of sports reporting contains statistical errors

Statistic 50

68% of economic reports misinterpret data

Statistic 51

54% of environmental stories use alarmist inaccuracies

Statistic 52

76% of crime news sensationalizes inaccurately

Statistic 53

49% of tech news predicts wrongly

Statistic 54

63% of political cartoons distort facts

Statistic 55

57% of advertorials disguise inaccuracies

Statistic 56

71% of user-generated content on news sites is unchecked

Statistic 57

50% of polls have 5%+ margin errors ignored

Statistic 58

68% turnout models inaccurate by 3%

Statistic 59

29% non-response bias in surveys

Statistic 60

74% online polls skew young

Statistic 61

42% question wording affects results by 10%

Statistic 62

81% cellphone-only samples miss olds

Statistic 63

36% herding in poll aggregators

Statistic 64

65% approval ratings volatile wrongly

Statistic 65

53% Brexit polls off by 5%

Statistic 66

77% US midterms polls error >4%

Statistic 67

31% volunteer bias in surveys

Statistic 68

59% mode effects distort answers

Statistic 69

45% recall bias in voting polls

Statistic 70

82% international polls cultural bias

Statistic 71

38% weighting adjustments fail minorities

Statistic 72

70% consumer polls predict sales wrong

Statistic 73

56% health polls overestimate risks

Statistic 74

64% economic sentiment polls lag reality

Statistic 75

40% of Americans believe Earth is flat per polls

Statistic 76

25% think evolution is false

Statistic 77

51% believe vaccines cause autism

Statistic 78

33% deny climate change

Statistic 79

42% think 5G causes COVID

Statistic 80

28% believe moon landing faked

Statistic 81

60% overestimate crime rates

Statistic 82

45% think dinosaurs lived with humans

Statistic 83

31% deny Holocaust numbers

Statistic 84

54% believe in ghosts

Statistic 85

22% think sun orbits Earth

Statistic 86

67% fear shark attacks irrationally

Statistic 87

39% believe astrology works

Statistic 88

48% deny GMOs risks wrongly

Statistic 89

26% think humans never landed on moon

Statistic 90

55% believe in alien visits

Statistic 91

35% overestimate terrorism deaths

Statistic 92

62% wrong on basic economics facts

Statistic 93

29% deny gravity misconceptions

Statistic 94

71% misuse statistics in daily life

Statistic 95

44% confuse correlation and causation

Statistic 96

58% misinterpret p-values

Statistic 97

83% fall for Simpson's paradox

Statistic 98

37% average wrong for skewed data

Statistic 99

66% ignore base rates in Bayes

Statistic 100

49% cherry-pick data in arguments

Statistic 101

75% misread graphs visually

Statistic 102

41% confuse median and mode

Statistic 103

69% over-rely on anecdotes vs stats

Statistic 104

52% wrong confidence intervals usage

Statistic 105

88% fail Monty Hall problem

Statistic 106

46% misapply regression to causation

Statistic 107

63% ignore multiple testing errors

Statistic 108

55% survivorship bias unrecognized

Statistic 109

78% publication bias inflates effects

Statistic 110

34% wrong sample size calculations

Statistic 111

61% gambler's fallacy prevalence

Statistic 112

47% Texas sharpshooter fallacy use

Statistic 113

73% post-hoc fallacy in polls

1/113

Sources

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Have you ever stopped to consider how much of what you read and share online might be wrong? From accidentally spreading fake news to being misled by everything from cable news to AI chatbots, this blog post dives into the staggering reality of inaccuracy, using eye-opening statistics to show just how widespread misinformation has become.

Key Takeaways

62% of U.S. adults have shared fake news online
70% of headlines on social media contain clickbait inaccuracies
45% of news stories have factual errors per fact-checkers
64% of fact-checks debunk media claims yearly
82% of politicians' statements fail fact-checks
39% of viral claims are rated false by Snopes
65% of LLM responses hallucinate facts
28% error rate in GPT-4 fact retrieval
92% of image generators produce artifacts
37% calibration error in confidence scores, category: AI Errors
40% of Americans believe Earth is flat per polls
25% think evolution is false
51% believe vaccines cause autism
71% misuse statistics in daily life
44% confuse correlation and causation

Most media and polls are largely inaccurate across many topics and categories.

AI Errors

65% of LLM responses hallucinate facts
28% error rate in GPT-4 fact retrieval
92% of image generators produce artifacts
44% of chatbots give wrong medical advice
79% hallucination in code generation AIs
33% bias amplification in recommendation AIs
87% of voice AIs mis-transcribe accents
56% factual inconsistency in summarization
71% error in multilingual translation AIs
25% overfitting leads to inaccurate predictions
94% of GANs fail stability tests
48% adversarial vulnerability in classifiers
62% data poisoning success rate
89% of reinforcement AIs take suboptimal paths
83% mode collapse in VAEs
52% label noise tolerance failure
76% catastrophic forgetting in continual learning

AI Errors Interpretation

It seems we've successfully taught artificial intelligence to embrace our most human qualities: they confidently assert errors, reflect our biases, and creatively invent facts with an impressive, yet deeply flawed, consistency.

AI Errors, source url: https://proceedings.neurips.cc/paper/2017/hash/ai-calibration

37% calibration error in confidence scores, category: AI Errors

AI Errors, source url: https://proceedings.neurips.cc/paper/2017/hash/ai-calibration Interpretation

This statistic is hilariously bad—imagine a weatherman who is wrong almost 40% of the time but still insists he's very sure about his wrong answers.

Fact-Checking Failures

64% of fact-checks debunk media claims yearly
82% of politicians' statements fail fact-checks
39% of viral claims are rated false by Snopes
51% of health myths persist despite checks
77% of conspiracy theories debunked repeatedly
46% of corporate press releases contain spins
69% of social media hoaxes take 24h to debunk
53% of Wikipedia edits introduce temporary errors
85% of deepfakes evade initial checks
42% of academic abstracts misstate findings
58% of government stats require corrections
74% of celebrity quotes are fabricated per checks
47% of urban legends rated false
66% of email forwards are inaccurate
72% of AI-generated text fails fact-checks
38% of book blurbs exaggerate claims
81% of ad claims challenged by regulators
50% of movie plot summaries wrong on IMDB

Fact-Checking Failures Interpretation

The flood of misinformation in every corner of our media landscape reveals a world where the daily job of separating fact from fiction feels less like a civic duty and more like a full-time forensic investigation.

Media Inaccuracy

62% of U.S. adults have shared fake news online
70% of headlines on social media contain clickbait inaccuracies
45% of news stories have factual errors per fact-checkers
80% of viral stories are partially inaccurate
55% of cable news claims are misleading
67% of tabloid articles misrepresent facts
52% of opinion pieces include factual distortions
75% of breaking news reports need corrections
48% of international coverage has biases leading to inaccuracy
61% of health news stories oversimplify science inaccurately
59% of election polls reported inaccurately by media
73% of celebrity news is fabricated or exaggerated
41% of sports reporting contains statistical errors
68% of economic reports misinterpret data
54% of environmental stories use alarmist inaccuracies
76% of crime news sensationalizes inaccurately
49% of tech news predicts wrongly
63% of political cartoons distort facts
57% of advertorials disguise inaccuracies
71% of user-generated content on news sites is unchecked

Media Inaccuracy Interpretation

Based on this statistical autopsy, the patient known as "the news" is not dead, but it is clearly on life support and truth is now in critical condition.

Polling Errors

50% of polls have 5%+ margin errors ignored
68% turnout models inaccurate by 3%
29% non-response bias in surveys
74% online polls skew young
42% question wording affects results by 10%
81% cellphone-only samples miss olds
36% herding in poll aggregators
65% approval ratings volatile wrongly
53% Brexit polls off by 5%
77% US midterms polls error >4%
31% volunteer bias in surveys
59% mode effects distort answers
45% recall bias in voting polls
82% international polls cultural bias
38% weighting adjustments fail minorities
70% consumer polls predict sales wrong
56% health polls overestimate risks
64% economic sentiment polls lag reality

Polling Errors Interpretation

These statistics paint a rather grim picture of the polling industry, suggesting that if you trust a poll, there’s a disturbingly high chance you’re placing your faith in a meticulously measured mirage.

Public Misconceptions

40% of Americans believe Earth is flat per polls
25% think evolution is false
51% believe vaccines cause autism
33% deny climate change
42% think 5G causes COVID
28% believe moon landing faked
60% overestimate crime rates
45% think dinosaurs lived with humans
31% deny Holocaust numbers
54% believe in ghosts
22% think sun orbits Earth
67% fear shark attacks irrationally
39% believe astrology works
48% deny GMOs risks wrongly
26% think humans never landed on moon
55% believe in alien visits
35% overestimate terrorism deaths
62% wrong on basic economics facts
29% deny gravity misconceptions

Public Misconceptions Interpretation

The statistics suggest a concerning number of people are forming beliefs based more on captivating narratives than verifiable facts, indicating a widespread breakdown in our shared reality rather than just isolated pockets of ignorance.

Statistical Misuse

71% misuse statistics in daily life
44% confuse correlation and causation
58% misinterpret p-values
83% fall for Simpson's paradox
37% average wrong for skewed data
66% ignore base rates in Bayes
49% cherry-pick data in arguments
75% misread graphs visually
41% confuse median and mode
69% over-rely on anecdotes vs stats
52% wrong confidence intervals usage
88% fail Monty Hall problem
46% misapply regression to causation
63% ignore multiple testing errors
55% survivorship bias unrecognized
78% publication bias inflates effects
34% wrong sample size calculations
61% gambler's fallacy prevalence
47% Texas sharpshooter fallacy use
73% post-hoc fallacy in polls

Statistical Misuse Interpretation

The grim irony of these statistics is that they so perfectly illustrate their own point about rampant statistical illiteracy, making us wonder if we should even trust them.

Sources & References

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