Social media influencers need “urgent” help to check their data before passing it on to their followers to reduce the spread of misinformation online, UNESCO has warned.
According to a report by the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization, two-thirds of content creators do not check the accuracy of their material, making them and their followers vulnerable to misinformation.
UNESCO said its findings, which come from a survey of influential people, underlined the need for media and literacy to help shape its work.
“The low prevalence of fact-checking highlights its vulnerability to misinformation, which can have far-reaching consequences for public discourse and trust in the media,” the report says.
Six in 10 creators said they had not verified the accuracy of their information before sharing it with audiences, while the research found that creators generally did not use official sources such as government documents and websites.
The most common source was “personal experience/encounter,” followed by the creators’ own research or talking to people knowledgeable about the topic, with conventional and unconventional news sources coming in third.
UNESCO research found that four in 10 creators cited the “popularity” of an online source – measured by the number of likes and views – as a key indicator of whether it was credible or not.
“The prevailing lack of rigorous critical evaluation of information highlights an urgent need to improve the media information literacy skills of creators,” the report says.
UNESCO has partnered with the US-based Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, part of the University of Texas, to offer an online course on “how to be a trusted voice online”, which includes modules on fact-checking and election content creation. or crisis. UNESCO said 9,000 influential people had already registered for the free month-long course.
Adeline Hulin, a UNESCO media literacy specialist, said some influencers were surprised that their work could be seen as news journalism. “They don’t really put themselves in that category,” he said.
Salomé Saqué, a French journalist and popular “news influencer,” said many creators were unfamiliar with journalistic practice and needed to better understand the impact their work could have. More professional journalists should use social media to spread their work, he added.
Almost half of the creators contacted by UNESCO said they had “partial” knowledge of the laws related to freedom of expression, defamation and copyright in their country, but would not consider themselves knowledgeable.
More than a quarter of creators were unaware of the regulations governing their work in the country where they operated. Only half of the creators surveyed clearly disclosed sponsors, donors or funding sources to their audiences. In the US and UK, influencers must inform users if their post is sponsored.
UNESCO based its findings on a survey of 500 content creators from 45 countries and territories, mostly from Europe and Asia. It said the majority of respondents were under 35 and “nano-influencers”, with up to 10,000 followers whose main preferred platforms were Instagram and Facebook. About a quarter had up to 100,000 followers.