One in three Australians blindly shares information they find online without verifying it, a study has found – and many fail to remove it when they discover it is false.

The trend is helping to fuel a rising tide of online misinformation that is also boosted by convincing frauds created with artificial intelligence tools.

Tech giant TikTok revealed the findings from a survey into online misinformation on Friday, alongside a public education campaign urging its users to pause before reacting to videos they watch online.

The warnings came a week after tech giants revealed the extent of misinformation infecting their platforms throughout 2025, including thousands of misleading ads, fake accounts and scam videos.

The TikTok survey of more than 1000 Australians found almost one in four regularly reacted to internet content without checking if it was true. More than one in three shared information before verifying it.

One in four of those surveyed felt embarrassed, annoyed or frustrated after sharing false or misleading information online, but only 26 per cent of those caught out corrected or removed their posts.

Cyber Safety Solutions founder and author Susan McLean said the behaviour was helping to spread misinformation such as dangerous health claims, malicious scams and deepfakes – and it wasn’t easy to undo.

“The minute you’ve pressed send, you’ve lost control,” she said.

“You might be able to recall the message, you might be able to take down your post … but it’s too late, it’s already out there.”

Misinformation had swelled online in the past year, McLean said, as AI-generated photos and videos became more sophisticated and harder to identify, and as more users raced to be first to share content.

TikTok Australia will launch a campaign to encourage users to pause and consider content before sharing it, with a song called Catch, Check, Choose, sung by Dom Littrich, developed in consultation with the former police officer.

“All platforms have a responsibility to make sure the content being shared is as factually correct as possible,” McLean said.

“They also have a role to play in education, in trying to make sure that if someone is using their platform there is an avenue for them to see information about things they should be doing to make their experience safer.”

TikTok has enlisted some of Australia’s biggest organisations for the campaign, including the Australian Medical Association, banks, telcos and police.

It has also turned to platform-based influencers – including deaf actor and storyteller David Grant, pharmacist and doctor Dr Mustafa, wildlife photographer Mitchell Burns, pop culture expert Aicha Robertson, and TikTok Granny Lorraine – who all share their own experiences.

Choreographer and director Stephen Tannos, who is best known for his work on television shows such as The Masked Singer and So You Think You Can Dance, as well as choreographing performances for Rita Ora and Jessica Mauboy, has created a bespoke dance to Catch Check Choose.

Littrich said he was no cyber safety guru, but he thought the song would have people singing and dancing their way to safety.

“The song is really catchy and just gets stuck in your head, which is exactly what the message needs to do,” he said.

“If a catchy hook is what it takes to get people thinking twice before they share something or do something, I’ll take that as a win. We’ve even made a dance to the chorus, so there’s really no excuse not to join in.”

The campaign launched late last week, a few days after DIGI released its annual report into action taken under Australia’s voluntary disinformation and misinformation code.

It revealed LinkedIn blocked 933 misleading posts from Australia during the year, YouTube removed 889 videos due to misinformation, spam or scams, and TikTok expunged more than 127,000 ads due to misleading and false content.

-AAP