User-Generated Content on the Vkontakte Social Network: A Challenge to Users’ Media Literacy

The article is devoted to the analysis of user content in order to identify signs of unreliability of information and misinformation. The transformation of users into authors is noted, and in this regard, the problem of information that does not have a sufficient evidence base from the facts is growing. The absence of primary sources, simplification of the context, and emotional coloring of messages can serv e as indicators of potential fakes. The results of the analysis demonstrate that there is often no fact-checking in user content, the emphasis is on the emotional component of the news, rather than on its reliability. In this regard, one justifies the need to develop media literacy as the basis of fact-checking.