EU-HYBNET: Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Workshop for Youth Representative

On the 29th of October 2021, a Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Workshop for Youth Representatives took place in Poznan. The Youth City Council of Poznan and the Polish Platform for Homeland Security, in cooperation with the EU-HYBNET project, organised this workshop.

Daniel Rząsa, the PPHS expert in the field of countering disinformation, delivered the session, which was attended by almost 50 secondary school pupils from the Poznan metropolitan area. The thematic scope of the meeting covered a wide spectrum of disinformation identification methods. Participants learned how to distinguish fake news from real news and confirm whether or not the selected news was actually fake.

PPHS also raised the growing problem and concern of deepfakes and synthetic media, and there was a panel devoted to the general issue of cybersecurity, which is related to disinformation activities. Finally, the topic of disinformation from hostile third countries was explored – specifically their motives and types of actions. The workshop was focused on practical and interactive exercises, analysing many examples of fake news from everyday life. This included disinformation related to the pandemic, which, unfortunately, intensified disinformation activities.

Various national and international incidents in recent years have shown how important it is to think critically and use media skilfully. These skills are one of the foundations for strengthening citizens’ resilience to hybrid threats – including disinformation campaigns. The results of research and the outcomes of projects carried out in this area, including the EU-funded EU-HYBNET project, emphasise that media education of the society in all age groups, is a critical issue in the area of ​​counteracting the effectiveness of disinformation activities.

If you are interested to learn more about the topics of Hybrid Threats, or you are keen to host a similar workshop, please get in touch. We would like to also invite you to the project website and its profiles on Twitter and LinkedIn.