In 2024, a staggering 64 per cent of Canadians admitted to not knowing how to fact-check information. Alarming isn’t it? Fortunately, this statistic is entirely false, but if you felt any concern, you’ve just experienced the ease at which misinformation spreads.
We are in an era when, according to Statistics Canada, nearly half of Canadians are struggling to differentiate between true and false information online. This makes media literacy education more important than ever and something that must become a standard part of school curriculums across Canada.
The age that teens enter the digital landscape is rapidly lowering, and according to CNN, as of 2021, we have children as young as seven navigating social media on their own. Introducing media literacy into school curriculums will help equip students with the critical thinking skills necessary to analyze sources, verify information, recognize bias and employ social media as a useful tool.
Misinformation is not new, but its range has exploded with the rise of digital platforms. According to The Los Angeles Times, in 2018, fake news was 70 per cent more likely to spread online than real news, creating confusion and eroding trust in legitimate sources.
That means disinformation is no longer a fringe issue but a mainstream one. Governments, corporations and individuals manipulate the media to control narratives, shape public opinion and fuel division. Social media has become a powerful tool for those looking to push ideological and political agendas. Without media literacy, the public is left vulnerable to manipulation.
Just as students are taught how to assess academic sources, they should receive structured lessons on how to evaluate digital media, identify disinformation tactics or understand how algorithms shape the content they consume. A well-designed media literacy curriculum could fill this gap, covering key areas such as source verification, fact-checking techniques and recognizing manipulated content.
Many schools across Canada are already struggling with overloaded curriculums and underfunded programs, so some might argue that adding media literacy as a subject could distract from core academic skills such as math, English and science. However, academic subjects are evolving, and media literacy is becoming as crucial as any academic subject. Just as students are taught to solve mathematical equations and analyze literature, they must also be equipped to navigate the information they encounter daily.
The consequences of an uninformed society are far-reaching. A population that can’t differentiate fact from fiction is vulnerable to propaganda, extremism and harmful conspiracy theories. Misinformation undermines democracy and weakens public trust in journalism – crucial pillars of a free society.
Educators and policymakers must recognize media literacy as an urgent priority. If we fail to equip students with the tools to critically engage with the content they consume daily, the cycle of misinformation will only intensify. The government must act now to integrate media literacy into school curriculums, from elementary to high school, before misinformation becomes the dominant narrative. We cannot afford to let the truth become optional.
Abigail Fishman
University of Victoria
