Reality Gap Index

NewsGuard has launched the “Reality Gap Index,” the nation’s first ongoing measurement of Americans’ propensity to believe the top false claims circulating online each month.

In a monthly survey of a representative sample of Americans conducted by YouGov, the Reality Gap Index measures the percentage of Americans who believe at least one of the month’s top false claims.

False claims are sourced from NewsGuard’s False Claim Fingerprints datastream, which tracks provably false information with significant spread online. Respondents are quizzed on the top three claims circulating each month, determined by an assessment of each claim’s virality, spread, impact, and potential for harm.

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The measure is the first of its kind aiming to quantify the effectiveness of this continuing assault on reality. Having begun in June 2025, the index tracks the percentage of Americans who believe that at least one of three prominent false claims is true. These reports provide insights into how false claims, including AI-generated deepfake audio, images, and videos and malign information operations from Russia, China, and Iran, succeed in misleading the American public. This analysis also reports the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of countermeasures such as fact checks or guardrails provided by generative AI, social media or other platforms disclosing to Americans when they are presented with false claims. Put simply, we are measuring not just the volume of false claims from America’s adversaries but also how effectively — because of the allure of the false claim as well as the velocity of its spread — they are breaking through.
 


 

Methodology

NewsGuard commissioned a July 2025 study with YouGov that polled a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Americans aged 18+. The survey was carried out online and prompted respondents with three statements conveying false claims spreading online. Respondents were asked to reply to each claim with a response of “True,” “False,” or “Not Sure.”

To conduct the survey, NewsGuard and YouGov presented a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Americans with three false claims that had gained wide traction online. Participants were asked whether they believed each claim to be true, false, or if they were unsure.

These false claims were drawn from NewsGuard’s False Claim Fingerprints, a continuously updated feed of provably false narratives gaining traction online. The selection focused on high-impact hoaxes — those with broad reach and significant potential for harm.

After completing the survey, respondents were presented with accurate information debunking each claim to ensure that the survey did not inadvertently advance false claims.

Read our inaugural Reality Gap Index Report from June 2025 here