'Immediate red flags': questions raised over 'expert' much quoted in UK press

Summary

Over the past couple of years, the Oxford-educated psychologist Barbara Santini has been widely quoted as an expert. She has contributed thoughts on everything from the psychological impact of the Covid pandemic to the importance of vitamin D and how playing darts can improve your health.However, her pronouncements have begun to disappear from articles after concerns that Santini may not be all that she appears. Major news outlets have removed entire articles featuring Santini, or comments made by her, after a series of questions were raised over her qualifications – and even whether her entire identity could be an elaborate hoax.The case has been described as a wake-up call for newsrooms, as AI tools make it far easier for bad actors to invent supposed experts for their own purposes. Santini’s output has been prolific, with comments in Vogue, Metro, Cosmopolitan, the i newspaper, the Express, Hello!, the Telegraph, the Daily Star, the Daily Mail and the Sun in recent years. She was also quoted in an article for the BBC’s international site, BBC.com.On closer inspection, her main online presence is as a sex and relationships adviser at an online sex toy outlet, Peaches and Screams. Some of the articles featuring her include a link to the store. Her qualifications are described there as “psychologist and sex adviser – University of Oxford”. However, the British Psychological Society (BPS) said she was not one of its members. She does not appear to have social media profiles, though she has two followers on the blogging site Medium.Questions over Santini were first raised by the Press Gazette. Peaches and Screams did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The Guardian made several attempts to reach her through a number understood to be connected to her, asking for a meeting or conference call to confirm her identity as well as verification of her qualifications. A message was eventually received stating: “Thank you for your interest in this matter.” No further ...