Hi, I'm Mrs. Allchin, and I'm going to be taking you through this citizenship lesson.

I'm going to provide you with all the information that you need and I'll be telling you when you need to pause and complete activities or carry out some checks for understanding.

Hope you enjoy the lesson.

This lesson is called What is false information and what can we do about it? And by the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain the different types of false information and why it is problematic.

This lesson is taken from the unit How does the media hold those in power to account? So, these are the key words that we're going to be looking at this lesson.

So democracy, which is a system of government in which citizens vote in regular, fair elections for political representatives.

Misinformation which is false or misleading information shared by mistake, without intent to deceive.

Disinformation, which is false information shared deliberately to mislead or harm.

Malinformation, which is true information used out of context to mislead or harm.

And regulation, which are rules or laws to control or guide behaviour for society's benefit.

This is the lesson outlined for this lesson today.

We're going to look at what types of false information are there, why is false information an issue in a democracy, and what can be done about false information? So we're going to start off by looking at what types of false information are there.

So misinformation is a type of false information, and this is information which is false, but has not been created with the intention of causing harm.

The person relaying that information was misinformed.

So if we look at the word misinformed, that is what misinformation is.

So, Sam is asking, can you think of any examples of misinformation? So if you want to pause and have a think yourself, can you think of any examples of misinformation? So, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was lots of information being communicated by the media and other sources and this did include false information.

An example of misinformation during this time was a school who had to publicly apologise after sending false information to parents that claimed that sunlight could kill the virus.

Now, this school was not trying to cause harm, they were simply misinformed and sending out the incorrect false information.

Let's have a check.

True or false, misinformation is meant to cause harm and distress to others.

Is that true? Is that false? And can you tell me why? It's false.

And why? Although misinformation could cause harm, it wasn't intended.

The false information was spread due to someone being misinformed.

So, disinformation is also a type of false information, but this is information which is false but has been deliberately created to harm a person, social group or organisation.

The person relaying the information knows it is false and that's a really key difference between disinformation and misinformation.

But they spread it anyway.

They are being dishonest.

So again, to help you, think of the word dishonest or dishonesty, and disinformation.

So, Aisha's asking, can you think of any examples of disinformation? So, pause if you like to have a think.

So an example of disinformation, again, during the time of the coronavirus pandemic were Russian reports that stated that Boris Johnson, who was Prime Minister at the time, was on a ventilator after testing positive for coronavirus.

Downing Street called the reports a misleading narrative.

The information was dishonest and could be perceived as having the intention to cause panic and alarm.

Some people believed that it was intended to undermine Western leadership or to attract attention to the Russian media by using sensationalism, so using reports and headlines that were quite shocking that would pique people's interests and make them want to read more.

So let's have a check.

When spreading disinformation, a person is being deliberately, A, dishonest, B, dynamic, or C, dapper? And it's A, they are being deliberately dishonest.

So, malinformation is slightly different to misinformation and disinformation.

So, it is information which is based on the truth, but it's used with the intention of causing harm to others.

The person sharing the malinformation is often being selective with the truth that fits a particular narrative.

So they might only be telling a certain part of the story so that it fits what they want people to think.

The person knows it will cause harm and is potentially selective with the facts, but uses it anyway.

So they are being malicious with their intentions.

So again, helping us to remember these words, if someone is being malicious and selective with the truth, then that could be an example of malinformation.

So again, Alex is asking, can you think of any examples of malinformation? So if you want to, pause and have a go at thinking some of some examples yourself.

So an example of malinformation, again, during the COVID-19 pandemic was Donald Trump who at the time, was the President of the United States, repeatedly calling coronavirus 'the Chinese virus.

' And he kept on doing this during a news conference, which would've had a large audience.

Now, this is a selected truth, because yes, you could argue that the origins of COVID-19 started in China, but by using that term 'the Chinese virus,' there was clearly some malicious intention there.

So although China had the first reported case of coronavirus, actually, many people criticised the President for his remarks.

Many people viewed them as being divisive, as being racist, and even promoting xenophobia, which is a strong dislike of people from a certain country.

They felt that by calling it 'the Chinese virus,' it was really proportioning blame on a group of people or on a specific country.

The information was malicious and seen by many as not needed, and only serving a negative purpose to criticise the Chinese government.

So, an example of malinformation.

So not strictly untrue, but being selective with the truth and using this in a malicious way.

So, let's have a quick check.

What is the intention of malinformation? Is it A, to cause humour to others, B, to cause hope to others, or C, to cause harm to others? And it's C, to cause harm to others.

Misinformation, disinformation and malinformation are not limited to news about the COVID-19 pandemic.

There's lots of examples during this time just because there was so much information coming out to us so quickly, but it's not the only examples.

So, misinformation was also seen during Hurricane Florence in 2018.

Misinformation went viral on social media stating aid with only be given to people who could provide ID.

And this created huge panic because obviously many people had lost their ID in the hurricane.

Another example of disinformation is in the 2016 US Presidential Elections where fake social media accounts stated that there were specific days for Democrat voting and specific days for Republican voting.

And this was purposeful and it was aimed to mislead voters.

So this was purposeful disinformation, they knew it wasn't true, sending it out to try and mislead voters.

And another example of malinformation, in 2014, hundreds of private celebrity images were leaked online.

And although these images were real, they were released with malicious intentions.

So, lots of these were personal images that celebrities didn't particularly want to be revealed about themselves.

So, let's have a quick check.

Which word matches to which term? So have a go and see if you can match the words on the left with the words on the right.

So, misinformation links to the word misinformed because it's false information that's spread with no malicious intention, but people have simply been misinformed.

Disinformation is when people are purposefully being dishonest.

They know it's not true, but they're saying it anyway.

Whereas malinformation is information that's false or partially true, that slight truth of that being a little bit selective with the truth and it's released for malicious intention.

So, it is released to sort of cause harm or cause some ill feeling.

So for task A, I would like you to create a table that explains misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

Your explanation should be clear and include the words misinformed, dishonest, and malicious.

And you might want to organise your work like you can see here.

Please pause while you complete this task.

So, your table may have looked something like this.

So you may have included, for misinformation, this is when someone spreads false information because they are misinformed.

They are not trying to cause any harm.

For disinformation you might have put, this is when someone knowingly spreads false information.

They are being dishonest with the purpose of causing harm.

For malinformation you might have put, this is when someone shares true information but with harmful intentions, or they are only sharing part of the truth but are doing this for malicious reasons.

We're now going to look at why is false information an issue in a democracy? So false information threatens the key values of democracy.

In a democracy, we need accurate information so that we can make informed decisions.

This is one of the reasons why we have media regulation.

The public need to trust that the media is factual.

We rely on the media for the truth, so we need to be able to trust it.

If citizens are making decisions and forming opinions based on false information, then they are misinformed, and we need to really try and avoid that where possible.

With more people using online platforms to access information, false information is becoming more difficult to spot, and can also go viral very quickly.

So, that means it's really easy for it to spread really quickly and be seen by lots and lots of people.

People can post what they like on social media without regulation and this includes false information.

Winston Churchill, who is a Prime Minister from the past, is really famous for once saying, "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." And this is even more true today.

And this quote is saying that actually, lies can often just spread really, really, really quickly and become almost uncontrollable with how quickly they can be believed.

They can often spread quicker than the truth.

And that's something we need to be really, really aware of, especially with social media and things being able to go viral.

So, let's have a quick check.

If citizens are making decisions and forming opinions based on false information, then they are what? Are they misinformed, informed, or reformed? They are misinformed.

Let's have another check.

What does social media lack which makes it easier for false information to spread? And Alex has given you a clue there by telling you that it begins with an R.

And the answer is regulation.

The media plays a crucial role in the lead up to an election, as well.

Because in a democracy, citizens should be able to access accurate information about the various candidates and political parties so that they can make an informed decision on who to vote for.

If citizens base their vote on false information, this is really deceitful and can significantly alter the political landscape because people could be voting on things that aren't true, things that are false, and that's really, really poor in a democracy.

And this can also lead to a lack of trust in the political process.

So, let's have a check.

True or false, it doesn't matter if citizens base their vote on false information.

Is that true? Is that false? And can you tell me why? It's false.

And why? If citizens base their vote on false information, this is deceitful.

It can significantly alter the political landscape and it can also lead to a lack of trust in the political process.

A person's vote is really, really important and it's really important that that is based on factual information.

So, false information can also aggravate existing tensions, cause violence and generate support for anti-democratic groups.

So, false information can actually be really dangerous, as well.

So Alex is saying, I've heard people talk about Pizzagate as an example of false information.

What was this? If you like, pause and have a think yourself.

Have you ever heard about Pizzagate? Does that mean anything to you at all? So in 2016, false information was spread via social media and this information went viral.

And this false information stated that a pizza restaurant in Washington in the USA was running a child trafficking ring.

So, ultimately, child slavery.

And that this was linked to members of the Democrat party.

So, completely false information that was spread.

When this information went viral, it actually led to a citizen going to the restaurant and firing a gun with the intention of saving the victims. Now, no one was hurt in that shooting, but someone could have been hurt, someone could have died in that shooting.

And the person that believed that false information of course ended up going to prison.

So it had really devastating impact on people.

And all of this happened because false information was created purposefully and that went viral on social media, and this was the end result.

Obviously, could have been really a lot worse and a lot more dangerous than it actually was.

So Sam is also saying, I've heard people talk about Myanmar in relation to this topic, too.

Why is that? So again, pause and think about, does that ring any bells? Is this something that you've learned about before? Have you got any understanding about this topic? So, Myanmar is a country in Asia with a mainly Buddhist population, but there is also a large Muslim community, too.

And in 2017 and 2018, social media spread false information stating that Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar were planning on attacking the Buddhist population.

And again, this information was spread, people were panicking, people were spreading this information even further.

And this caused fear and hostility between the two groups.

And this false information led to and contributed to huge human rights abuses, forced displacement of people, and thousands of deaths.

So, this highlights how false information can be an issue in a democracy and really threaten democratic values.

So, let's have a check.

What are the missing words? False information can also aggravate existing tensions, cause something, and generate something for anti-democratic groups.

And you can see the first letter of both of those words is there to help you, a V and an S.

So, the first missing word was violence, and the second missing word was support.

For task B, I want you to think about, for an active citizenship project, you want to get positive and educational social media posts trending.

So, I want you to have a go at creating a social media post of approximately 40 words that informs people why false information can be an issue for democracy.

And don't forget, if you like, to include a hashtag.

Pause while you have a go at this task.

So, your social media posts could have looked something like these.

So the first one says, fake news isn't just annoying, it's democracy's kryptonite.

Every false fact chips away at trust, fueling division and distorting reality.

Stay sharp and protect the truth.

#Democracy.

Or a second example, democracy thrives on truth, but false info is the ultimate threat.

Misinformation divides us, blinds us, and shakes a very foundation of our freedoms. Let's keep it real.

#Truth.

So, we're now going to go on to look at what can be done about false information.

So, eradicating and getting rid of false information is arguably impossible, especially due to the amount of people using new media, such as social media.

So this is something that's really, really difficult to do, especially now people are using online platforms and social media even more.

But there are steps that organisations and individuals can take to reduce false information and/or educate people about false information so they're better able to spot it.

So Alex is saying, what could media corporations do to reduce false information? So those people at the top, those people that own these big media corporations, what do you think they could do to reduce false information? Pause and have a bit of a think about this yourself, if you like.

So, print and broadcast media already follow regulations, so special rules that they need to follow, and these aim to ensure that the news is accurate.

And this concludes journalists needing to make sure that information they publish is accurate.

So, this is already in place.

There are already regulations.

However, some people may argue that these regulations could be made much stricter with harsher penalties for organisations and individuals that breach them.

So for example, if the newspaper prints something that's false information, having much harsher penalties for that newspaper.

So this could include making retractions much more prominent.

So for example, retractions do happen if a media has accidentally printed something that is incorrect.

So again, let's use a newspaper as an example.

They may be made to print a retraction, so basically saying, we are sorry that what we printed on this date was incorrect.

This is the true information, we're sorry.

But at the moment that retraction doesn't have to necessarily be on the front page.

So, some people are saying that actually, making retractions much more prominent might make them less likely to happen because having that retraction on the front page isn't going to make you look very good.

And also, by publicly naming and shaming media sources that have been proven to spread inaccurate information, so by making those much harsher, that might hopefully improve things and reduce false information.

Let's have a check.

Some people argue that media regulations need to be, A, looser, B, stricter, or C, clearer? And the answer is B, stricter.

The increase in social media usage has made it easier for false information to spread.

And we've looked at this already a little bit this lesson.

Social media doesn't have the same levels of regulation because anyone can create a post, a blog, or a video, and upload this onto platforms to be viewed and shared by many, many, many people really quickly.

So Aisha is saying, well, how could social media platforms reduce this from happening? So pause and have a think about this yourself, what do you know already, or what ideas have you got for how social media platforms could reduce this from happening even further? So, some people believe that social media companies could work harder and faster to remove false information and take down social media accounts that are spreading false information.

So, this does sometimes happen.

You do see posts disappear and be taken down, but some people think that more emphasis should be put onto this and that social media companies should do this quicker.

Social media companies could also provide links to verified information when it is clear that a false news story is going viral.

So, if they can see that there's lots and lots of traction and lots of movement in something that's misinformation or disinformation that is going viral and being spread, actually releasing verified links so people can get the correct factual information.

And they could also use algorithms to reduce the visibility of posts that have been flagged as false and to prioritise posts that are verified as true.

So, using those really clever computer algorithms to make sure that information that's true and that's factual is more likely to be popping up on people's social media feeds.

So, let's have a check.

Some people believe that social media companies should ensure algorithms, A, deprioritize false posts and prioritise posts that are verified, B, deprioritize verified posts and prioritise posts that are false, or C, deprioritize sensationalist posts and prioritise posts that are false? Pause and have a think.

And it's A.

So Alex is saying, I've heard people talk about bots.

What are they? So again, pause and have a think.

Have you heard about bots? I'll give you a clue, they're often used within social media.

So, bots are programmes that people create to look like real people.

They are programmed to send messages, respond to certain posts, and like certain posts.

So, ultimately bots is just short for robots, in this case.

Bots can easily be programmed to spread false news and make it look as though lots of real people are verifying and agreeing with fake information.

So, bots can really kind of confuse people's perception about what's true, what's false, what's popular, and what's unpopular.

Many people believe social media companies should have stricter methods for recognising and detecting bots and removing these accounts.

So, let's have a quick check.

What are the missing words? Bots are programmes that people create to look like real something.

They are something to send messages, respond to certain posts, and like certain posts.

So, the first missing word was people, and the second missing word was programmed.

So Sam is saying, I've heard of digital literacy in school.

What's this? So again, pause, think about it.

What is digital literacy? Can you remember being taught any digital literacy lessons in school yourself? So, digital literacy is included in the National Curriculum for citizenship and also within the PSHE Programme of Study.

And digital literacy educates young people about false information and how to spot it.

So, it's very important.

This lesson that you're taking part in now would be an example of digital literacy.

It's important that people can think critically about sources of information, and consider carefully whether the information could actually be false.

That is something that's taught in digital literacy.

What can we do as individuals to reduce being drawn into false information? So, pause and have a little bit of a think yourself.

What are the steps that you could take to make sure that you're not being drawn into believing information that's actually false? Some of the things that you could do is first of all, look at the date.

Is the information current and relevant? It might be that it was true at one point, but it might not be true anymore.

Be wary of sensationalist headlines or images.

You might know this is being called clickbait, so, sometimes just be thinking, hmm, is that headline there to really draw me in? Is it completely true? Is it a partial truth? And to be aware of that.

To examine URLs.

So, if you look at a fake website, often the website itself can look really realistic.

But if you actually look at the URL, if you look at that full web address, actually, it might be quite clear there that it's actually a false website.

To be aware of bias.

So, that's not necessarily that the information might always be completely false, but it might be written to try and lead you into a certain way of thinking.

So, just to be aware of bias, and that's another reason why it's really important to read a range of different types of media when you're trying to find out about a topic.

You can also verify the information by exploring the topic on trusted websites, or doing your own research, or even using fact checking websites like factcheck.

org.

And also, be responsible by not sharing content that could be false.

So you've got another role in this, that it's important that you're not sharing information on with other people that actually could be false.

So, let's have a check.

Which is not a good option when educating and protecting yourself against fake information? Is it A, checking the URL of the news website, B, sharing information that we don't know is true, C, taking part in digital literacy lessons, or D, using fact checking websites? And it's B, sharing information that we don't know is true.

So for task C, I'd like you to write a letter to your local MP explaining any ideas that you have to better protect citizens from false information.

It is up to you whether to mention a few different ideas, or focus on one in more detail.

You could include increased regulation for journalists, the importance of digital literacy in schools, or social media regulation.

So, it's up to how you approach this task, whether you cover all of those three bullet points, or if you maybe just focus on one in more detail.

So, pause while you have a go at this task.

So your letter could have included something like this.

So, my name is, and your name, I'm concerned about the spread of false information and how it affects our community.

I believe some simple steps could help tackle this problem.

Social media platforms should label fake or misleading posts clearly, and have better regulations and link information to verified sources.

Schools should also teach students how to spot fake news and think critically about what they see online through lessons on digital literacy.

Finally, websites should make it easier to report false content and act quickly when something is flagged as false information.

I hope you can support these ideas and push for change to make the internet a safer, more truthful place.

So in summary for the lesson, what is false information and what can we do about it? Misinformation is when someone spreads false information unknowingly.

They are misinformed.

Disinformation is when someone does this deliberately.

They are being dishonest.

Malinformation is when the information may be true, but is spread maliciously, or is only a half truth.

In a democracy, citizens need to be able to trust the news and use this to make important decisions.

False information damages democracy by misleading the public and also causing tensions between groups.

False information can be tackled at an organisational level by having stricter regulations, especially on social media.

At a personal level, citizens can take part in digital literacy lessons, and critically evaluate the information they are accessing.

That is the end of the lesson.

Well done for working so hard.

I hope you enjoyed it and we hope to see you back for more citizenship lessons in the future.