Approximately 51.4% of Moroccans citizens have more trust and faith in professional journalists than in influencers on social media (SM), according to the Moroccan Center for Citizenship, which detailed Moroccans’ perceptions of social media in a recently compiled report published today.
In addition, the vast majority of respondents (87.6%) opined that frivolous content is more popular on social media than meaningful content.
Only 5.9% trust content creators, 2% trust influencers, and 40.7% trust acquaintances and friends who post on their accounts.
The report added that 87.9% of Moroccans support the need to regulate and legalize new professions related to content creation and influencers who are active on social media networks.
Approximately 64% believe that social media platforms have contributed to improving the political awareness and civic engagement of youth, while 68.7% believe that Moroccans are not benefiting positively from the advantages and benefits offered by SM platforms.
The report noted that about 96.8% of respondents believe that influencers have either a very strong, strong, or moderate influence on teenagers, and about 94.9% believe that greed sways influencers and content creators to post inaccurate content and thus lose their credibility and objectivity.
95.8% of respondents stated that TikTok ranks first among the platforms which cause harm to society and in particular to youth, followed by Snapchat at 52%, Instagram at 50%, and Facebook at approximately 40%.
The recent poll comes against the backdrop of a far-reaching debate in Morocco about social media networks, especially with regard to defining the boundaries between freedom of expression and defamation, as well as the proliferation of content that many citizens consider trivial and contrary to the values of society.