Malta is the EU member state in which the most youths have said that they have been exposed to disinformation and fake news, a Youth Eurobarometer reads

In all Member States, a vast majority of respondents think they have been exposed to disinformation and fake news at least to some extent over the past seven days, the report states. "In nine Member States, a majority of respondents report having being exposed to disinformation and fake news 'often' or 'very often' in this timeframe; this applies, for instance, to Malta (59%), Hungary (58%), Greece (57%), Luxembourg (55%) and Belgium (54%)."

Malta was also the member state where the highest percentage of respondents feel very confident that the can recognise disinformation when they encounter it (38% of respondents in Malta). In addition, a further 50% feel they are somewhat confident they can do that.

When asked from which sources they get most of their information on political and social issues, respondents were able to select multiple responses. The top three responses locally were social media platforms, at 47%, TV at 32%, and youth organisations, youth workers and other non-formal educators at 24%. 

The Flash Eurobarometer survey was requested by the European Parliament, Youth Outreach Unit. The European Parliament, Directorate-General for Communication, Youth Outreach Unit, conducted the Youth survey 2024. A representative sample of young people aged 16-30, in each of the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU) were interviewed. Between 25 September and 3 October 2024, 25,863 young people were surveyed via computer-assisted web interviewing. Survey data are weighted to known population proportions. The EU27 averages are weighted according to the size of the 16-30 year-old population of each EU Member State, the report reads.

Asked which topics should be a priority for the European Union for the next five years, the top three in Malta were: 36% of respondents in Malta said the environment and climate change, the same percentage said the economic situation and creation of jobs, and the same percentage also said social protection, welfare and access to healthcare. People were able to select multiple answers.

Respondents were asked for their main reasons not to vote in the MEP elections last June, with respondents able to give multiple answers. 37% of respondents in Malta said they didn't find any relatable candidate or political party that represented their views, which was the highest selected answer locally. The second and third highest selected answers both saw 29% of respondents selecting them. One was that they couldn't because of technical or procedural issues (didn't register on time, etc.) and the other was that they didn't have enough information to make a choice.

The top two responses for the question 'why did you vote for the party or candidate you chose in these European elections?' were: I voted strategically/I wanted to avoid the electoral success of another party (29%), and I think this party/candidate can change things (25%).

Asked to state which are the three most important values for them,  the protection of human rights, democracy and peace saw the most people (35%) select it. The next two highest were human dignity including the prohibition of the death penalty, torture or slavery, which was selected by 33%, and 29% selected freedom of speech and thought.