UNESCO Survey of 500 Influencers from 45 Countries
Only 36.9% Responded 'Do Fact-Checking'
As the world suffers from misinformation circulating on social networking services (SNS), it has been found that more than six out of ten influencers with a large number of followers tend to share information without verifying its accuracy. Four out of ten influencers prioritize how much public attention the information receives over its factual accuracy when judging information.
On the 29th, CNN reported that a UNESCO survey conducted from August to September among 500 digital content creators (with over 1,000 followers) across 45 countries revealed that many influencers create or share content without emphasizing fact-checking. Only 36.9% of influencers who participated in the survey said they fact-check before sharing content. This means that more than six out of ten influencers do not verify the reliability of information. Among those who do not fact-check, one in two said they rely on trusting the source rather than the content’s reliability as a substitute for fact-checking.
Influencers responded that when judging whether the information they use to create content is reliable, they base it on how much attention the information has received. More than four out of ten respondents consider information with many 'likes' or high view counts on SNS as having high credibility.
In particular, influencers valued personal experience over government-issued reports or documents during the content creation process. Six out of ten respondents (multiple answers allowed) said their own experience was the source of information. Chinese influencer Zhang Jiaoyuan even said in an interview with UNESCO, "All the content I post is based on materials obtained from personal experience."
Following personal experience, 40% of respondents said they created content based on ▲expert and self-interviews or self-investigation ▲excerpts from online sources rather than mainstream media ▲information obtained from mainstream media. Only 12.6% said they created content based on official data released by the government or other authorities.
The main motivation for influencers to create content was ranked first as "to share their knowledge with others" (26.0%), followed by "to earn money" (23.8%), and "to entertain others" (23.4%).
Recently, the influence of influencers has been growing steadily. Ahead of the recent U.S. presidential election, both the Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns actively communicated with influencers to capture voters' support. According to the U.S. think tank Pew Research Center, 40% of Americans aged 18 to 29 regularly obtain information through influencers.
UNESCO expressed concern, stating, "The lack of thorough fact-checking clearly shows vulnerability to misinformation," adding, "This can have a significant impact on public discourse and trust in the media." It emphasized, "The lack of awareness about the need to critically evaluate information means there is a need to develop influencers' media and information literacy skills, including fact-checking."
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