Photo: varga.jovica/Depositphotos
With the rise of AI and algorithm-driven bias, fake news is everywhere—and alarmingly—it’s becoming increasingly harder to spot. However, in Finland, the next generation is learning how to decipher what’s real and what isn’t from an early age. Since the 1990s, the innovative nation has built media literacy into its national curriculum, teaching children as young as three how to analyze different types of media and recognize disinformation.
While students have been learning how to critically assess media headlines and stories for several years, they’re now learning how to spot if an image or video is made with AI. This particular push for media literacy has ramped up in recent years, especially as Russia expanded its disinformation campaigns across Europe following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
From AI deep fakes to political propaganda, untrustworthy content isn’t always easy to spot, but the Finns are learning what to look out for. These skills are so deeply embedded in everyday life that the country’s 5.6 million residents consistently place Finland at the top of the European Media Literacy Index. “We think that having good media literacy skills is a very big civic skill,” says Kiia Hakkala, a pedagogical specialist for the City of Helsinki. “It’s very important to the nation’s safety and to the safety of our democracy.”
It’s not all down to teachers, though. Finnish media also take responsibility, organizing an annual “Newspaper Week,” where news is sent to young people to read and interpret. And in 2024, Helsinki-based Helsingin Sanomat collaborated on a new “ABC Book of Media Literacy,” which is given to every 15-year-old in Finland as they begin upper secondary school.
Learn more about how media literacy is being taught in Finnish schools in the video below.
Finland has built media literacy into its national curriculum, teaching children as young as three how to recognize disinformation.
Source: Finnish children learn media literacy at 3 years old. It’s protection against Russian propaganda
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