How can we help young people tackle misinformation during COVID?

OECD Education Podcast

It could be said that there have been not one but two pandemics being propagated across the world over the past year. Alongside the spread of COVID-19 there has been an equally prolific spread of misinformation surrounding the origins, characteristics and treatments of the virus – some are calling it an “infodemic”. False information about the crisis fuels division and hinders government efforts to control the spread, especially in areas with already low levels of trust in government. The young are particularly vulnerable to being exposed to misinformation online, and it has become vital to support them in developing a critical eye when reading the news. But what is the best way of doing that? To find out we caught up with Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, Founder and CEO of Lie Detectors, Amy Mitchell, Director of Journalism Research at Pew Research Center, and Francesco Avvisati, Senior Survey Methodology Specialist in the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills.