As more and more people turn to online creators for information on politics and current events and their influence grows beyond fashion, culture and lifestyle, it's more important than ever for creators to prioritize accuracy over possible engagement. When news influencers want to be a credible alternative to the often negatively connotated "mainstream media", they have to take that responsibility seriously and be held to the same standards and codes that traditional journalists commit to.
Unlike journalists, who are formally trained to assess sources and have acquired the skills to verify information, influencers often lack such formal training, which can lead to problems during the fact checking process. That is, if such a process even exists. According to a recent UNICEF study, which provides insights on digital content creators and their practices, fact checking is a mere afterthought for many influencers. The study found that 62 percent of the 500 surveyed creators do not verify the accuracy of information before sharing it with their audiences and even if they did vet the information or the sources they were using, the criteria used let a lot to be desired.
When asked about which criteria they applied to evaluate the credibility of online sources, 42 percent of respondents said that the number of likes and views was a primary factor. The second most popular criterion was whether the information came from a trusted friend or expert, while the reputation of the publisher/author was another major factor. The documentation or evidence used to support a claim or argument, i.e. the criterion that comes closest to a source in the scientific sense, was only used by 17 percent of respondents to evaluate whether a source was credible or not.
Considering the fact that 69 percent of the surveyed creators believe that they promote critical thinking and digital literacy, it is noteworthy that many of them seem to lack the skills, or at least not apply them, that are an essential part of digital literacy: telling truth from misinformation and having the tools to tell one from the other.
