Only 10% of Ukrainian social media accounts registered as news outlets meet the transparency criteria in full. These are profiles that disclose both their contact details and ownership information, a monitoring study by the Institute of Mass Information shows.

The study reviewed 606 accounts on video and social media platforms that were registered with the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting as of 1 January 2026.

Transparency was assessed by two key parameters:

  • disclosure of editorial contact details on the website (phone number, email, postal or office address);
  • disclosure of information about the news outlet’s owner (legal entity or individual) and its number in the NCTRB register.

According to these criteria, only 60 social media accounts scored the maximum of 1 point, exhibiting full transparency. This is 10% of the total number of news outlets studied.

Of these, 39 were on YouTube. By subject, most (29) were sports outlets, followed by 19 accounts covering news or politics and 12 listed as blogs.

In terms of contact transparency, the most registered social media accounts did list the contact details mandatory for online news outlets:

  • 383 accounts (63.8%) were fully transparent, having their address, email, and phone number listed;
  • 143 news outlets (23.8%) were partially transparent, as they did not list full information about their location and ways to contact them;
  • 74 accounts (12.3%) were non-transparent and listed no contact data.

When it comes to ownership transparency, disclosing information about the owner is not mandatory for online news outlets; however:

  • 74 accounts (12.3%) were transparent, having listed both data on the natural or legal person who owns them as well as their register number;
  • 432 online news outlets (72%) were partially transparent, having listed only the register number, which allows you to research the owner (registrant) of the news outlet independently;
  • 94 accounts (15.6%) listed neither ownership details nor the register number, even though disclosing the latter is required by law.

Overall, the study showed that an online news outlet being registered with the NCTRB does not guarantee its openness to the audience. Most resources only do the bare minimum to comply with the requirements stipulated by law, mainly regarding contact details. At the same time, full transparency, uncluding clear information about the owner, the editorial structure, policies and rules of operation, remains the exception rather than the norm.

As of 1 January 2026, Ukraine’s National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting had registered 606 accounts on platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram, Telegram, X, Facebook, Viber, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and Threads as online news outlets.