Misinformation: most influencers don’t check what they post

At a time when combating misinformation is a challenge for society and an increasing portion of the public is informed through social media, a UNESCO survey reveals that the majority of digital influencers do not verify the information disseminated to their followers, despite express interest in knowing how to do so to prevent the spread of fake news.

Carried out in 45 countries, including Brazil, the survey showed that 62% of influencers admitted that they did not verify the information they post – which could end up increasing the spread of misinformation and fake news.

A third of content creators (33.5%) further reported that they share third-party posts without verifying the source.

What motivates influencers?

“Behind the Screens” is the result of interviews with 500 influencers to identify the motivations, practices and challenges of these content creators.

For the study, UNESCO defines “influencers” as people who create content on social platforms (such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram) with at least 1,000 followers.

The survey found that the main motivation of content creators is to share knowledge (26%), followed by generating income (23.8%) and entertainment (23.4%).

Expressing an opinion or emotion about a subject (13.8%), promoting work (6.2%) and military service for a cause (5.8%) are other motivations cited by influencers.

Brazilian Amanda da Cruz Costa is an example of this trend. The influence uses its networks to give visibility to the climate issue, focusing on young people, black people and peripheral people:

“I would say I’m more of an activist than a content creator. (Social media) is a way to bring more visibility to the cause.”

Influencers spread misinformation without realizing it

Despite being known as “influencers”, a UNESCO survey found that few actually consider themselves that way: only 19% of creators see themselves as influential in their networks.

Even without identifying themselves as influential, content creators often collect information from their followers.

Therefore, the study sought to identify the criteria used by influencers when publishing content that they consider relevant:

42% of respondents said they use “the number of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ a post receives” on social media as their main indicator that content is trustworthy;
21% gathered content that was posted by friends or experts they consider trustworthy;
19% affiliates based on the author’s confidence on the subject;

“Journalists can be a valuable help for creators of digital content to verify the reliability of their information”, highlights UNESCO.

Cooperation between these two groups, however, is still rare.

Major news outlets are the third most common source of information for influencers (36.9%), which they inject into their own curation first (58.1%), followed by their own research and interviews (38.7%). ).

The partnership of journalists and influencers can make the press once again a primary source of news on the networks – since, in the online world, the counterpart is associated with visibility.

Influencers are unaware of network rules and regulations

UNESCO’s research also exposes a widespread lack of knowledge about network standards and regulations for content creators.

The majority of influencers (59%) are not familiar with or have only heard of international standards for digital content production. The UN agency highlights the seriousness of this:

“This gap can place digital content creators in legal uncertainty, exposing them to prosecution and convictions in some countries.

It also prevents them from claiming their rights when they themselves are victims in the online environment.”

It is not uncommon for influencers to be targets of online harassment or hate speech — 32.3% have been victims of the latter. But only 20.4% reported to the platforms, the survey reveals.

Brazilian influencer Clara Avebuck describes Instagram as a “nightmare” for content moderation, which makes attacks easier and difficult to remove offensive posts.

“Instagram doesn’t see hate speech because it’s an algorithm. It’s difficult to talk to a person. It’s the algorithm that decides,” he says.

For UNESCO, the research reveals that influencers need support and training to continue producing safely, responsibly and with credibility.

Access the full report at this link.