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Article History

Received: 9 July 2025

Accepted: 26 May 2026

First Online: 5 June 2026

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: In this study, the online survey method was used. The research was conducted using data collected from 305 participants selected through a purposive sampling method among social media users living in Turkey who regularly follow content shared by influencers. A total of 305 people who voluntarily agreed to participate and accessed the survey form via Google Forms were included in the study. The informed consent form was presented to volunteer participants at the beginning of the survey, so all participants were aware of the reason for their contribution. The authors declare that no organs or tissues were obtained from anyone.

: The authors declare that no organs or tissues were obtained from anyone. In this study, the online survey method was applied to 305 volunteer participants who were informed about the reason for their participation via the informed consent form.

: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Kocaeli University (Approval ID: 2025/11; E-94094268-020-833786; Decision No. 4; Date: March 09, 2025). The online survey was conducted from March 10, 2025, to April 30, 2025. All procedures were performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, the Council of Higher Education (Yükseköğretim Kurulu - YÖK, Turkey), and relevant institutional (Kocaeli University’s Social Sciences Ethics Committee) and international ethical guidelines. The Ethics Committee was chaired by Prof. Dr. Mine Halis, who oversaw and signed the approval decision. The online survey was administered to 305 volunteer participants. Ethics approval was granted by the Social Sciences Ethics Committee of Kocaeli University, in line with the institutional procedures defined by YÖK. The questionnaire and methodology were reviewed and approved prior to data collection. In this study, the online survey method was applied to 305 volunteer participants. The name of the approval committee is Kocaeli University, Turkey, Social and Human Sciences Ethics Committee. The approval date is 09.03.2025, and the approval number is 2025/11. The informed consent form was presented to volunteer participants at the beginning of the survey. This study is a non-interventional social science research project involving human participants..

: Informed consent was obtained from all participants at the beginning of the survey before they answered any questions. The survey was conducted from March 10, 2025 to April 30, 2025. Only participants who selected “I agree to participate” participated in the survey. Participants provided consent for their involvement in the study and the use of their data for publication. They were fully informed that their anonymity would be ensured, that their data would be used solely for research purposes, and that there were no risks associated with their participation. Before accessing the survey, each participant viewed the informed voluntary consent form, which was adapted from the standardized forms provided on the homepage of Kocaeli University’s Social Sciences Ethics Committee. By actively clicking to approve the consent form online, participants confirmed their voluntary and informed agreement before proceeding.