The risk of encountering and spreading wrongful information could be especially high for voters who depend on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok for political news.

According to University of Sydney journalism and media history lecturer Dr Margaret Van Heekeren, the key difference between online misinformation and disinformation is intent.

"Misinformation is the unintentional sharing or spreading of something that is false, whereas disinformation has the deliberate intent to deceive," said Dr Van Heekeren.

"Whilst we do have problems with both mis- and disinformation, it certainly isn't at the extent of other countries. We haven't had the evidence of large orchestrated mis- or disinformation campaigns by other states or particular groups.

"That said, since our last election, it has become so much more commonplace elsewhere in the world that I certainly think it's something we should be more aware of as a possibility for this election in Australia."

First-time voters like 19-year-old Wagga resident Paul Anderson will deal with these possibilities as they wade through election content on social media.

"False political information is a huge thing online nowadays, it's a struggle to figure out what you can rely on. Even just with basic ads or people on TikTok, or Instagram or Facebook," said Mr Anderson.

"It's harder to figure out what is a trustworthy source."

Mr Anderson said he's more likely to fact-check information with the people around him than through online channels.

"A couple of times I've stopped to check if things were true, but a lot of the time I take it at face value," he said.

Like many people his age, the Riverina local finds the majority of his news, political or otherwise, through social media channels.

"I'd pretty much say all of it. Because I know for myself, and maybe like a lot of the younger generation, I don't really watch TV," said Mr Anderson.

The same goes for Marina Gabra, 19, a Wagga local now living in Melbourne, studying politics and sociology at the University of Melbourne.

"I think probably 80% of my news comes from social media,' said Ms Gabra, who represented Wagga on the NSW Regional Youth Taskforce at age 16.

Preparing to vote in her first federal election, Ms Gabra said she feels some responsibility around the sharing of information within her friendship circles.

"If it was one of my close friends [spreading misinformation] I'd probably just ask them where they got it from because I do really understand the impacts of misinformation and disinformation," she said.

"On a platform like Instagram, where people can have thousands of followers, just posting something on your story is immediately going to have an impact."

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This election has already seen a more concerted effort from social media companies publicly combating mis- and disinformation by implementing fact-checking teams, in-app election guides and by working directly with the Australian Electoral Commission.

Although a positive sign, Dr Van Heekeren said the tech giants had little choice.

"They are genuinely being proactive, but they've certainly been forced into being proactive," she said.

"Because of so many issues there have been around the world, they don't have a choice anymore but to increase the amount of self regulation they do."

Despite these efforts, Ms Gabra is still wary of trusting information found on social media platforms.

"I feel like I trust them now more than a few years ago. But at the same time, it's definitely not where I would go if I wanted to get really reliable resources because a lot of the time there's no censoring and there's no fact checking from their end," she said.

According to Dr Van Heekeren, these platforms depend heavily on users notifying them of misleading content.

"It's a responsibility for all of us," she said.

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