New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS): A survey of over 19,000 people across the country revealed that most Indians blame politicians for misleading the the people.

The survey conducted by Ipsos said that 56 per cent respondents "blame politicians for misleading people, 47 per cent believed that it is the media that is misleading people; 44 per cent feel social media is the culprit for people's lopsided views."

The study of over 19,000 people in 27 countries shows that the majority of Indians say that they regularly see fake news and half of them said that they believed a fake story, only to discover later that it was fake.

"When it comes to fake news, 72 per cent Indians profess to have seen news stories by media organisations deliberately saying something that wasn't true. And 55 per cent Indians say that they had falsely believed a news story as real until they found out that it was fake," it said.

Interestingly, Indians interpreted fake news in different ways.

As many as 55 per cent said fake news were stories, where the news outlets or politicians only picked up facts that supported their side of the argument; 53 per cent said fake news were stories with wrong facts; 36 per cent Indians felt fake news was a term politicians and the media used to discredit news they didn't agree with.