It’s a recent UNESCO study that has been getting a lot of attention in recent days, with the latter focusing on the sacrosanct “influencers”. Indeed, for several years now, Internet users have built communities around themselves on various social networks, and are responsible for offering news, files, product presentations, etc. Obviously, in addition to the principle of “neutrality“, there is also the question of disinformation.
Big risks of misinformation among influencers?
On YouTube, but also on Instagram or even on TikTok, we find influencers specialized in almost all fields. Cosmetics, makeup, fashion, video games, tech, cooking… Everything is now an excuse to “influence“, and if possible to glean some tickets, some partnerships and other products offered via a “commercial collaboration“. Today, social networks (and therefore influencers) have become the main source of information among young people.
And this inevitably raises some questions… Also, the study carried out by UNESCO looked at a few hundred content creators, spread across around fifty countries. And for more than 60% of them, the information shared with their respective audiences is simply not verified upstream.
There is a simple reason for this: the importance of being the first to cover a news story, in order to glean as many views, comments and shares as possible. And so much the worse for approximations. Worse still, for more than 40% of influencers, this same number of views/likes is a criterion which makes it possible to verify the veracity of information. The more popular content is, the more authentic it would be…
Among the sources that make it possible to verify information, the media are only taken into account in 30% of cases, while official sources (from a government for example) are only used in 12% of cases. In order to combat possible massive disinformation, UNESCO has launched training for videographers, in partnership with the University of Texas.
“Digital content creators have gained a major place, but many struggle to confront misinformation and hate speech online“, indicates Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO. It must be said that certain social networks, notably the X network, very widely promote divisive speeches and other forms of disinformation of all kinds.
More generally, these are often controversial and other content “dramas” which are favored by algorithms, more inclined to valuable engagement, to the detriment of more documented/benevolent content.
