- Close to 8 out of 10 middle school students cannot distinguish ‘fake’ news from real news.
- With the emergence of automated accounts (bots), the spread of disinformation has never been easier.
- Through the use of algorithms, social media can create powerful echo chambers, entrenching preexisting beliefs, views, visions and animosities, and they can also be used as platforms for the dissemination of external influence.
- The fake news phenomenon is likely not a short-lived one and requires media-literate citizens to discern fact from fiction.
Consensus-building, the backbone of democracy, becomes a daunting challenge in such an environment. Some remedies can come from the social media providers. But more importantly, our educational systems must integrate critical thinking, information evaluation and media literacy as some of the top skills for the 21st century from very early ages.
The future is already here
Teaching kids to think when they swipe and click
The Italian government, in cooperation with leading digital companies, has started an experiment to train students in public schools to recognise fake news and conspiracy theories online. Laura Boldrini, the President of the Italian lower house of Parliament, who has spearheaded the project with the Italian Ministry of Education, asserts that the web cannot be forfeited to the fringes, and that the government must teach the next generation of Italian voters how to defend themselves against falsehoods designed to play on their fears.
