Study shows 43% of Russians want popular social media channels verified

MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. More than 40% of Russians believe that social media channels with large followings should be verified, as this would foster trust in influencers. This is according to a survey by the Rambler&Co media holding, the results of which became available to TASS.
“43% of surveyed Russians believe that mandatory verification for pages and channels will help regulate the blogger market and increase trust in them, 27% are neutral on this matter. In the meantime, 19% express concern, believing that strict rules could limit the creative potential of content creators,” the study results say.
Another 11% of respondents are mostly for the new rules, but note that some aspects should be refined.
The survey also revealed that 21% of respondents regularly engage with online content, another 26% follow a few select creators, while 53% don’t pay attention to social media influencers or otherwise.
During the survey, 68% of citizens also stated that content creators should be legally responsible for disseminating false information. Another 19% believe that this is only appropriate where it concerns socially significant news. There are also those who believe that what content creators put online should not be subject to strict regulations (13%).
From November 1, the Russian authorities started documenting social media accounts that had a following of more than 10,000 users. In addition, a mechanism has been created to register such channels. Thus, anyone whose account has 10,000 followers or more must submit information about themselves to Russia’s media watchdog (Roskomnadzor) so that they can be included in a special registry.
Social networks must also add a special sign and unique link to the page of a verified channel, which can be used to make sure the channel is in fact official. The list itself won’t be open to the public.
More than a third of respondents (35%) believe that mandatory registration would stifle creators from pumping out content, while 28%, on the contrary, are convinced that regulation stimulates creativity, as it increases audience trust. “23% think some creators may quit social media altogether. Only 14% believe that registration will have no effect on social media influencers,” the authors of the study note.
Some respondents also believe that the new rules could change the landscape of online content: according to 44% of respondents, the quality of channels would improve, and 17% believe that their overall number would decrease. Some predict that certain channels could turn into traditional media (14%) and the same number (14%) says that nothing would change. And 11% are convinced that content would become more boring.
The survey was conducted on the resources of the Rambler&Co media holding from October 25 to October 31, 2024, covering 72,396 Internet users.