Reporting Platforms: Young Canadians Evaluate Efforts to Counter Disinformation

MediaSmarts facilitated online focus groups with youth ages 16 to 29 to examine and assess reporting processes on popular apps (Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube). More specifically, we wanted to understand how young Canadians feel about current efforts to counter misinformation and disinformation online and what solutions they have regarding the problems and concerns they experience while navigating online information ecosystems and communities. Overall, youth expressed a lack of trust and confidence in the ability of platforms to counter misinformation and disinformation and to keep them informed and safe online. Participants emphasized that users are not provided with meaningful opportunities to engage with platforms to prevent and address misinformation and disinformation, and they felt platforms must make design changes that prioritize values of accuracy, transparency, trust, responsibility, and safety.

Young Canadians in a Wireless World, Phase IV: Digital Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship

Young Canadians in a Wireless World (YCWW) is Canada’s longest running and most comprehensive research study on young people’s attitudes, behaviours and opinions regarding the internet, technology and digital media. In this report we present findings related to digital media literacy and digital citizenship, including findings related to verifying online information , learning digital media literacy skills and ethical digital citizenship. Data collected in Phase IV of YCWW helps us better understand how young Canadians determine the reliability of the sources they come across online and whether they understand the benefit of some verification practices over others. This report also includes a brief case study on whether youth understand the business model and general operation of search engines like Google. We speak to the digital media literacy skills young Canadians are learning, from whom, and what skills they are interested in learning more about. Knowing more about how youth navigate and participate in online spaces gives us some insight into their ability to actively and positively participate in online communities as digital citizens. This report also solidifies the need for a national strategy to prioritize digital media literacy education in classrooms and communities across Canada.

Moving On: Digital Empowerment and Literacy Skills for Survivors Needs Assessment Report

In this report, we detail the methodology and results of a needs assessment we conducted in February and March 2023 to understand the current needs and concerns of survivors and practitioners regarding addressing and preventing technology-facilitated violence and abuse in Canada.

Young Canadians in a Wireless World, Phase IV: Trends and Recommendations

Young Canadians in a Wireless World (YCWW) is Canada’s longest running and most comprehensive research study on young people’s attitudes, behaviours and opinions regarding the internet, technology and digital media. This report brings together findings from the qualitative and quantitative portions of Phase IV and offers a series of recommendations based on this data. We end this report with some reflections and conclusions on Phase IV of YCWW, including lessons learned and offer some next steps regarding the development of Phase V and the state of digital media literacy in Canada.

Building Resilience through DigitalSmarts

This report shares findings from MediaSmarts’ four-year intervention research project: Moving On: Digital Empowerment and Literacy Skills for Survivors (MODELSS), which developed and evaluated the Resilience through DigitalSmarts program. Delivered in shelters and transitional homes across Canada, the program provides trauma- and violence-informed digital media literacy training to help survivors of technology-facilitated violence and abuse build online safety skills and confidence. The report is structured around the project’s four phases (adaptation, implementation, evaluation and knowledge mobilization), outlining the approaches, methods, outcomes and lessons learned at each stage. It highlights key findings from the evaluation of the Resilience through DigitalSmarts program and concludes with reflections on what works well in trauma-informed digital media literacy interventions, as well as strategic priorities for addressing tech-facilitated violence at individual, interpersonal, community and systems levels.