Misinformation has become a severe worldwide problem and a major contributor to rising divisiveness, hatred and even violence. With social media, in particular, opening the door for anyone to create and share falsehoods and conspiracy stories, overall trust in media and government institutions is at an all time low. This has also become a quandary for defenders of freedom of speech, especially when misinformation endangers one’s health (e.g. promoting ineffective or unsafe medications for Covid).
Europe has traditionally been more protective of digital privacy than the U.S., with stricter regulations and greater awareness and sensitivity to misinformation. It is not surprising that Finland has been ranked number one among 41 European countries for resilience against misinformation for the fifth year in a row, based on a survey by the Open Society Institute in Bulgaria, followed by Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland and Sweden. The U.S. is not included in this poll but trust in news media is now the lowest ever, with only 34% of Americans trusting mass media to report “fully, accurately and fairly” (source: Gallup 10/22). In comparison 76% of Finns (source: IRO Research, albeit a different poll) consider print and digital newspapers to be reliable.
The Best Education Is In Finland
How do the Finns accomplish this? It starts with education, even at the preschool level. Education in Finland has always been rated among the top in the world. A key reason is the teachers. The most prestigious and highest paying job opportunities attract the brightest college graduates for elementary and high school teaching positions. These new teachers undergo a challenging orientation program and then are closely mentored by a senior instructor during their first year.
Finland has an 833 mile border with Russia so has always been wary of Russian misinformation, which led to setting national goals for media education 10 years ago, including a a campaign to teach students how to spot misinformation. This emerging capability to identify disinformation has become more important recently with Russian threats against Finland joining NATO.
Teaching Examples In Finland
There are a variety of practices teachers use to help students identify false information, depending on the level and academic styles. For example, teachers would present news articles to students and then discuss what the purpose is, how and when it was written, and what the author’s main claims are. On other occasions, a teacher would show a TicTok video and then discuss the creator’s motivations and the effect it has on the students.
Teachers in Finland have more discretion for creating role playing or participatory tasks. For example, students would be asked to edit their own videos or photos to see how easy it is to manipulate information. Understanding the relationship between social media and journalism is critical, so students are taught about the differences of what they see on Instagram or TicTok versus what they read in trusted Finnish newspapers. Learning how search algorithms work enlightens students on the risks of priority meanings, such as searching “vaccination” where the first results may not be the most reliable. Another tactic is to study Russian news sites and memes on the war in Ukraine as the basis for discussion of the effects of this propaganda.
There is a huge need in the U.S. for enhancing our ability to distinguish between truth and fiction, and we can certainly learn from the Finns and other northern European country brand leaders. In particular, one of the biggest threats in the future is the potential role of AI (Artificial Intelligence) to craft false narratives and conspiracy theories. Recently, Gordon Crovitz, the CEO of NewsGuard which tracks online misinformation, said AI technology like ChatGPT can be “the most powerful tool for spreading misinformation that has ever been on the internet”.
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