UNESCO report finds that 6 out of 10 influencers don’t use basic fact-checking practices

A new survey from UNESCO found that 62% of digital content creators don’t use basic fact-checking practices — which is particularly unsettling when you consider recent data showing that 1 in 5 Americans get their news from “news influencers” online.

The “Behind the Screens” survey, conducted by the U.N.’s educational and cultural agency with help from Bowling Green State University, was conducted in eight languages and received responses from 500 influencers from 45 countries. The study found that nearly two-thirds of influencers “lack rigorous fact-checking protocols, despite their significant impact on public discourse.”

According to the survey, 6 out of 10 influencers “admitted to not verifying the accuracy of information before sharing it with their audiences.” And the survey found that nearly 42% “use the number of likes and views of the online content as the primary factor to determine online source credibility.”

The survey defined digital content creators as individuals who “regularly post content online for public consumption and have more than 1,000 followers,” which meets the threshold for so-called nano influencers: people who may not have massive followings, but are nonetheless part of the online marketing ecosystem. The study also found that 32% of influencers had experienced hate speech.

This is all a damning indictment of the digital culture — and the social media platforms that incentivize provocation and permit manipulation. That’s not exactly a fact-friendly environment.

This survey shows why there’s an urgent need to invest in fact-checkers and disinformation experts. I encourage you to read the full report here.