The Commission on Fake News and the Teaching of Critical Literacy Skills, run by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Literacy and the National Literacy Trust, as well as partners Facebook, First News and The Day, has gathered a wealth of evidence over the past year on the impact of fake news on children and young people, as well as the skills children need to be able to spot it.
This report details the findings of the Commission's primary, secondary and teachers surveys about fake news, includes submissions from our call for written evidence and outlines the Commission's recommendations for specific action areas for government, schools, families, media organisations, commercial and third sector organisations and young people.
Key findings include:
- Only 2% of children have the critical literacy skills they need to tell if a news story is real or fake
- Half of children (49.9%) are worried about not being able to spot fake news
- Two-thirds of children (60.6%) now trust the news less as a result of fake news
- Two-thirds of teachers (60.9%) believe fake news is harming children’s well-being, increasing their anxiety levels
- Half of teachers (53.5%) believe that the national curriculum does not equip children with the literacy skills they need to identify fake news