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At a time when digital content creators have become a major source of information for people, a UNESCO survey published today reveals that 62% do not carry out rigorous and systematic fact-checking of information prior to sharing it.
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But 73% express the wish to be trained to do so. UNESCO is launching this month the very first global course to address this, with more than 9,000 participants from 160 countries already registered to participate.
UNESCO supporting first-ever global training course
“Digital content creators have acquired an important place in the information ecosystem, engaging millions of people with cultural, social or political news. But many are struggling in the face of disinformation and online hate speech and calling for more training. As part of its mandate for media and information literacy, UNESCO will support them through the first-ever global training course,” announced Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s Director-General.
The UNESCO “Behind the screens” survey is the first global analysis of digital content creators’ motivations and practices, and of the challenges they face. It involved 500 influencers in 45 countries, with the expertise of a dedicated research team at Bowling Green State University (USA).
As well as demonstrating that fact-checking is not the norm, the survey finds that content creators have difficulty with determining the best criteria for assessing the credibility of information they find online. 42% of respondents said they used “the number of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ a post had received” on social media as the main indicator. 21% were happy to share content with their audiences if it had been shared with them “by friends they trusted”, and 19% said they relied “on the reputation” of the original author or publisher of content.
Journalists could be a valuable aid for digital content creators to verify the reliability of their information. However, links and cooperation are still rare between these two communities. Mainstream news media is only the third most common source (36.9%) for content creators, after their own experience and their own research and interviews.
Lack of awareness of their rights and duties
The survey also revealed that a majority of digital content creators (59%) were either unfamiliar with or had only heard of regulatory frameworks and international standards relating to digital communications. Only slightly more than half of the respondents (56.4%) are aware of training programmes addressed to them. And only 13.9% of those who are aware of these programmes participated in any of them.
This gap can put digital content creators in legal uncertainty, exposing them to prosecution and conviction in some countries. It also prevents them from asserting their rights when they are themselves victims of restricted content online. For example, about a third (32.3%) of digital content creators reported being targeted by hate speech. But only 20.4% reported the case to the social media platform.
The world’s first training course built for and with influencers
While 73% of respondents requested training, UNESCO and the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas (USA) partnered to develop the first global month-long course. It aims to empower content creators to address disinformation and hate speech and provide them with a solid grounding in global human rights standards on both Freedom of Expression and Information. The content was produced by media and information literacy experts in close collaboration with leading influencers around the world to directly address the reality of situations experienced by digital content creators.
The course just started and runs for 4 weeks; over 9 000 people from 160 countries enrolled and are currently taking it. They will learn how to:
- source information using a diverse range of sources,
- assess and verify the quality of information,
- be transparent about the sources which inspire their content,
- identify, debunk and report misinformation, disinformation and hate speech,
- collaborate with journalists and traditional media to amplify fact-based information.
Once the course is completed, UNESCO will continue to work with the beneficiaries to build a community sharing good practices, promoting information integrity on a large scale and raising awareness among their peers.
As the United Nations Organization for Communication and Information, UNESCO plays a leading role in tackling the rise of disinformation online. In 2023, the Organization published the first Guidelines for The Governance of Digital Platforms, to help governments and regulators to address the growing pollution of the global information ecosystem. UNESCO also works to support independent journalism while empowering people with media and information literacy skills in order to recognize reliable information.
