Joe Harrison is a research assistant at the think tank Bright Blue.
Since helping to stir up riots in July and August, the threat of online misinformation has attracted considerable attention in the UK. However, preconceptions of young people as ‘digital natives’, having grown up surrounded by technology, mean that we risk overlooking their particular vulnerability.
It is common knowledge that young people are the biggest consumers of online content. While 47 per cent of the UK population get their news from social media, the figure jumps to 71 per cent for 16-24-year-olds.
Yet, while young people are the most digitally active, their critical online literacy is lacking. A recent ‘misinformation susceptibility test’ developed by the University of Cambridge found that among adults, 18-29 year-olds were the most vulnerable to fake news, with longer durations spent recreationally online correlating with reduced ability to distinguish between real and fake content.
Further, in 2021 the National Literacy Trust found that while most 11-16 year-olds believed they knew how to check online information, only half took the time to consider whether a news story was true. This adds to 2018 findings that less than 1 per cent of secondary students had the skills needed to consistently distinguish between real and made-up stories – a figure four times lower than among adults tested the previous year.
This critical deficiency is compounded by young people being the least satisfied with democracy at both a national and international level. This marked disillusionment makes them an easy target for the polarising forces of techno-populism – where radical political movements use digital means to push anti-establishment rhetoric that can involve misinformation and conspiracy theories.
In the UK, predicted political ‘youthquakes’ – be they from Momentum or Reform – have turned out to be mere tremors. In Europe though, young people have proven pivotal in the continent’s recent swing to the far-right, with social media playing a central role.
During June’s EU elections, Alternative for Germany (AfD) – a far-right party linked to extremist conspiracy theories – saw its share of the 16-24 year-old vote jump from 5 per cent to 16 per cent, aided by TikTok disproportionately favouring its content. This social media platform was similarly crucial in helping France’s far-right National Rally (RN) become young people’s favoured party during these elections.
The risks for young people are therefore clear; what is less obvious is how to mitigate them.
One potential answer is to attempt to ban social media platforms for under-16s. This approach – promoted by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt in his bestselling book The Anxious Generation – has won bipartisan support in Australia. Likewise, Ofcom – the UK regulator tasked with monitoring social media content – has said that if tech firms fail to address children’s exposure to harmful material it will ban social media for all under-18s.
The bans’ critics suggest that rather than taking away access to virtual platforms we should prioritise making them safer through regulation. The Government has signalled its support for this strategy with promises to toughen up the Online Safety Act – legislation with new content restrictions scheduled for implementation next year.
However, progress in this area is slow going. One telling example is the EU’s pioneering Digital Services Act. Despite being passed in 2022, this regulation – which can force platforms’ compliance through fines of up to 6 per cent of global annual turnover – has only been fully implemented since February and remains somewhat limited, as evidenced by its recent inaction during charges over criminal activity on the messaging service Telegram.
Given these challenges, one final alternative is considering the role of schools. Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, has said that the national curriculum review – scheduled to publish its findings in 2025 – will implement critical thinking lessons through subjects like English and computing.
However, tacking supplementary exercises onto existing academic material is a fairly limited measure. Australia, in comparison, has launched a public inquiry into its civic education programme, explicitly responding to rises in misinformation by exploring how to better inform and engage its youth in democracy.
The struggle against misinformation is highly complex with no immediate solution. In modern societies and job markets, Gen Z’s technological talent is rightly considered one of its greatest strengths. Nevertheless, this proficiency must not blind us to the fact that being chronically online creates distinct vulnerabilities too.
