Break the Fake: Printable posters and bookmarks
They are designed to accompany a full suite of Break the Fake resources including a workshop, tip sheets,

They are designed to accompany a full suite of Break the Fake resources including a workshop, tip sheets,

MediaSmarts’ experts are available to facilitate virtual and in-person workshops in school and community settings for parents/guardians, educators, youth, older adults and the general public. Our workshops cover topics such as AI literacy online safety, misinformation, digital well-being, managing tech in the home, diversity and representation in media, digital citizenship, critical thinking, online hate and more.

The changes in how news is consumed (and produced) described above have also made it harder to verify if a particular news item is accurate – and made it easier for misinformation to be spread, either intentionally or unintentionally.

One of the reasons why teens turn to shortcuts, such as judging a claim based on the reliability or apparent authenticity of the person making it, or turning to peers and influencers over trusted expert sources, is that they simply encounter too much information to deal with. To overcome this, we need to learn information sorting: how to quickly tell whether or not a source is even worth our attention before considering it.

Learn more about our organization’s history.

In grades 2-3, students are still not yet able to think critically about technology, accepting online environments and activities at face value. However, their growing independence means they are looking for more information online, and they are starting to integrate computers and the Internet into their daily lives.

Because social media makes us all broadcasters, we have a responsibility not just to avoid sharing misinformation but to take action when people in our network share it.

Young Canadians need to be able to make good choices about privacy, ethics, safety and verifying information when they’re using digital media, and they need to be prepared to be active and engaged digital citizens. Based on our ground-breaking research on digital literacy education in Canada – and linked to existing curriculum outcomes for each province and territory – MediaSmarts’ model curriculum that provides a framework for integrating digital literacy in Canadian schools. The framework draws on our research to identify nine essential skill topics that students need to know and provides resources in each category and at every grade level.

Canadians consider online misinformation one of the most serious threats facing the country, on a par with climate change and ahead of issues such as infectious disease, concerns about the global economy and cybersecurity.