When advice can affect someone’s education, career, finances or legal position, professional credibility should mean more than visibility. Does it?
Speak Your Mind! 🎯 “When Did Followers Become Qualifications?,” by Dejan Trpkovic
25–AUG–2026 | Recent moves in China to strengthen verification of qualifications for certain types of professional online content are worth paying attention to. Education is among the fields covered by stricter verification requirements, alongside areas such as healthcare, law and finance.
The move also touches on a broader issue: the extraordinary, and sometimes unwarranted, authority that online influencers can acquire simply through reach, confidence and visibility. A large audience can create real power over decisions, even when the person behind that influence has little or no professional accountability.
Not because China should become a model for how online speech is regulated, but because the move raises a question that many industries have avoided for too long:
When advice can materially affect another person’s future, what should qualify someone to give it?
People make major life decisions based on advice they receive online every day. Which university to choose. Whether a qualification is worth pursuing. How to finance an education abroad. Which career path offers the best prospects. Sometimes even how to approach legal, financial or health-related issues.
The problem is not that people are sharing opinions. The problem begins when opinion starts to look like professional advice.
In academic advising, that distinction is particularly important. Students and families may be committing years of study, substantial financial resources and, in many cases, an international move based partly on the guidance they receive.
In most established professions, credentials matter for a reason. Doctors, lawyers, financial advisers, teachers, counselors and many other professionals operate within systems of qualifications, standards and accountability.
The same principle applies in international education.
Students and families regularly make decisions involving substantial amounts of money, several years of study and, in many cases, a move to another country. Advice about choosing a university, evaluating a qualification, selecting a study destination or understanding admissions requirements can have consequences long after an application has been submitted.
Yet online, it can be difficult to distinguish between someone with years of professional experience and someone who has simply learned how to communicate confidently about the subject.
A large following does not solve that problem.
Visibility proves that people are listening. It does not prove that the advice is reliable.
This does not mean that only formally qualified professionals should be allowed to discuss complex subjects. Personal experience can be extremely useful. A student describing life at a university, a parent sharing an admissions experience or an entrepreneur explaining lessons from building a company can all contribute valuable perspectives.
But there is a difference between sharing experience and presenting that experience as professional advice.
That distinction should be clearer.
Someone saying, “This was my experience studying abroad,” is making a personal contribution. Someone telling a family which university they should choose, how a qualification will be recognized or what immigration route they should follow is entering very different territory.
The greater the consequences of the advice, the stronger the case for transparency.
At a minimum, people presenting themselves as professional advisers should be prepared to clearly state their background, relevant qualifications and professional experience, and to prove credentials they claim to hold.
That is not an unreasonable burden. It is a basic element of professional accountability.
Platforms could also help audiences make better judgments. They already verify identities, organizations and advertisers. Professional credentials could become another layer of useful information, particularly in fields where poor advice can have serious consequences.
The objective should not be to prevent people from expressing opinions. Nor should governments become arbiters of every online discussion.
The more useful principle is simpler:
Everyone should be free to speak, but claiming professional authority should come with responsibility.
For organizations working in education and academic advising, that distinction matters particularly strongly. Students are not purchasing an ordinary consumer product. They are making decisions about qualifications, careers, international mobility and often a significant part of their family’s finances.
They deserve to know who is advising them.
The internet has democratized access to knowledge. That is overwhelmingly positive. But democratizing information should not mean eliminating the distinction between information, experience and genuine professional expertise.
Followers can demonstrate influence.
Proven credentials, relevant experience and accountability demonstrate something very different.
And when the advice can materially affect another person’s future, that difference matters.
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