Media and information literate citizens: think critically, click wisely!

and fact-based information is crucial for making potentially lifesaving decisions and

participating in all areas of society. It is a critical pillar of democracy and central to our

ability to address every major issue we face, whether it be climate change, migration,

As such, it must be treated as a public good, in the same way as the water we drink

and the air we breathe.

The pandemic has been marked by widespread misinformation and rumours, especially

through social media, that many, including the United Nations Secretary-General, have

termed an ‘infodemic’. However, these challenges should not have been unexpected.

They are the result of the massive technological shifts in recent decades that have

completely upended the ways in which we communicate and interact and inform

ourselves. Almost seventy percent of the world’s young people are now online1. Every

day, people watch more than a billion hours of video on YouTube2, and almost two billion

of us connect to Facebook3, with many using these platforms as their primary source of

news and information about the world.

It is no coincidence that we are seeing trust in information falling to record lows globally,

most dramatically for information found online, but even for that provided by traditional

media and governments.