MILA - Media & Information Literacy Alliance

New Study Reveals 15-Year-Olds are Ready to Vote but Feel "Locked Out" by Lack of Political Literacy Education - Shout Out UK A new interim report reveals that while British children are eager to participate in democracy, they are being failed by a lack of education.

With the impending lowering of the voting age in the UK, a new study by @shoutoutuk.bsky.social finds that 61% of 14- & 15-year-olds intend to vote as soon as the franchise is lowered, but that many also feel 'locked out' by lack of political literacy education www.shoutoutuk.org/2026/03/02/n...

Growing up in the online world: a national consultation We are consulting on further measures to prepare children for the future in an age of rapid technological change. This includes potential age restrictions on social media and other services such as ga...

The UK government has today finally launched its national consultation on 'Growing up in an online world', with a response deadline on 29 May. This includes the controversial question on whether to ban social media for young people, but also covers other issues.

www.gov.uk/government/c...

Welcome to Your Vote Week School and youth groups across the UK join us every year to celebrate democracy. Throughout Welcome to Your Vote Week, they deliver democratic education with their students and young people.

Electoral Commission's 'Welcome to Your Vote Week 2026' is on 9-15 March. The theme is 'Why Voting Matters’, of interest to schools, colleges, universities & youth groups. Includes an online event to explore the findings of this year's youth research www.electoralcommission.org.uk/resources/re...

This sort of thing could happen here in the UK if ever we end up with a government that actively pursues an anti-science, anti-evidence agenda. Truly shocking, but sadly not surprising.

Preparing young people to vote in a complex, attention-driven environment Preparing young people for lower voting age | Internet Matters. In this brief, we examine young voters' digital literacy & trust in politics.

New report by @internetmatters.bsky.social & @fullfact.org on how young people encounter political information online & about their confidence navigating what they see. Important in light of UK government's proposal to extend the vote to 16- & 17-year olds www.internetmatters.org/hub/research...

MILA & Demos' Epistemic Security Network invite anyone interested in media literacy to a free online meeting to explore how the renewal of the BBC Charter might impact on ML - Monday 23 February, 16:30-17:45. Further details + Eventbrite registration link below. www.eventbrite.com/e/1983039409...

@oecd-ocde.bsky.social has just published an initial draft of the PISA 2029 Media and Artificial Intelligence Literacy Assessment Framework. Very timely in England in light of Curriculum and Assessment Review. Important recognition of how MAIL relates to ALL subjects

www.oecd.org/content/dam/...

The end of information – media, knowledge, and education in a post-truth age Join this event to hear Professor David Buckingham discuss his most recent book, The End of Information.

You are invited to the launch of David Buckingham’s new book, 'The End of Information: media, knowledge and education in a post-truth age', at the UCL Knowledge Lab in London, on 11 March at 5:00pm. For further details and to book your place, see below. www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2...

Information Literacy Skills of Conspiracy Theorists? Call for Reflection A blog about imperfect cognitions, such as delusional beliefs, distorted memories, confabulatory explanations, and implicit biases.

Do conspiracy theorists deploy information literacy skills? Daria Cybulska (Wikimedia UK) argues that this might be so, with emotions playing a large part in their approach to IL. Complexity resilience provides one means of addressing this quandary imperfectcognitions.blogspot.com/2026/01/info...

The UK shouldn’t rush to a social media ban for children under 16 | LSE British Politics Australia's ban of social media for under 16s has re-ignited the same debate in the UK. Sonia Livingstone argues that more evidence is needed before such a ban.

The UK govt has launched a 'national conversation' on banning social media for under-16s. Here, @sonialivingstone.bsky.social argues that a ban may not be the easy solution that people imagine and what's most important is to act in the best interests of children. blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Yesterday, MILA held a successful convening event with 50+ participants from a wide range of organisations to examine the state of play with MIL in the UK & chart possible collaborative activities to make the case for MIL over the coming year. We'll post the full outcomes of the event shortly.

Making the case for information literacy at the RSA - Royal Society of Arts yesterday. With many thanks to @evapascoe.bsky.social for having organised such an interesting event.

Paper Mills: a new threat to scientific publishing – Full Fact There's a new problem for publication in research: scientific fraud.

Insightful article from @deevybee.bsky.social on fraudulent trends that undermine the integrity of scholarly publishing. 'Publish or perish' is fuelling very dubious practices at the heart of the scientific research endeavour. Of obvious relevance to information literacy fullfact.org/technology/p...

Australia’s social media ban and why the UK might be next Australia’s social media ban and why the UK might be next | Internet Matters. In UK, 62% of parents support ban on social media for under 16s.

With Australia's under-16 social media ban now in force, @internetmatters.bsky.social reflect about what this might mean for the UK, drawing from surveys showing that 62% of UK parents support a ban, but also suggesting that bans are not a silver bullet. www.internetmatters.org/hub/research...

Media and information literacy: a joint statement following the Curriculum and Assessment Review - Media and Information Literacy Alliance Curriculum reforms will falter without media literacy funding for schools, say 35+ experts close to the issue Over 35 organisations and experts warn that planned media literacy reforms will fail witho...

Great to see media literacy in the new school curriculum for England, but it needs investment to work & an understanding that ML is relevant to ALL subjects. Today, a joint statement, signed by 35+ organisations and experts, calls for dedicated training & resources. www.mila.org.uk/mil-car-statement

Patient Information Forum Health and Digital Literacy Survey 2025 Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

With the NHS plan positioning digital as default by 2029, @pifonline.bsky.social is running a survey for health information producers to find out how the sector is embedding health & digital literacy into their services. For anyone interested, the deadlne is 30 Nov. www.surveymonkey.com/r/DYL6FWZ

It's just over 2 years since the Online Safety Act came into force & @osanetwork.bsky.social has set out a useful review of where the UK is with implementation: some welcome areas of progress, incl enforcement, but many remaining concerns and shortcomings too. www.onlinesafetyact.net/analysis/the...

News Integrity in AI Assistants This report is one of the largest cross-market evaluations of its kind. Working with the EBU, 22 public service media organizations in 18 countries – working in 14 languages – assessed how ChatGPT, Co...

A study from the European Broadcasting Union has assessed how four leading gen AI platforms answer questions about news/current affairs. The findings show high levels of error, with AI responses falling short on basic criteria like accuracy & providing adequate context. www.ebu.ch/research/ope...

Important piece of work at a time when public policy on media literacy is gaining traction. The study relates to sub-UK levels of government, but the conclusions relating to regional settings bear some resemblance to the challenges faced at the the UK-wide level. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Three MILA trustees at an enlightening event at the Finnish embassy, on lessons from Finland for strengthening societal resilience with media literacy. Great panel discussion pointing to ongoing challenges even for countries where ML is deeply ingrained @jsecker.bsky.social @elinorcarmi.bsky.social

The role of the public library in addressing mis/disinformation Online surveys is a powerful, easy to use tool for creating online surveys. Run by Jisc, online surveys is used by over 300 different organisations in the UK...

For any public library staff reading this, Arts Council England has commissioned a survey on role of public libraries in addressing mis/disinformation in UK society. If interested, the survey questionnaire is open until 5 December, at app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/stirling/a...

MILA reaction to curriculum review - Media and Information Literacy Alliance Equipping young people to navigate the complex media environment in which we all now live is essential both to their wellbeing and to the functioning of a healthy democracy. MILA therefore welcomes th...

MILA welcomes the government’s pledge to give media literacy more focus in schools in England following the publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, along with the government’s response to it, on 5 November. For a fuller statement of our reaction, see mila.org.uk/mila-reactio...

Championing good information curation - Sense about Science The People’s Case for Curators advocates the role of information curators as they help people navigate today's complex information landscape.

@senseaboutsci.bsky.social has produced a guide on the role of public-good curators: trusted people (librarians, editors, research integrity officers, specialist journalists) who work to uncover reliable information, share knowledge & protect public access to it senseaboutscience.org/championing-...

Here's a recording of the workshop run recently by First News, in association with MILA. Really interesting insights into the place of media/information/AI literacy in young people's education, what this means for teachers and for democratic health of society schools.firstnews.co.uk/articles/ai-...

New report commissioned by Google looking at how teenagers in six European countries (but excluding the UK) are using the latest technology and the relative risks and educational opportunities this entails. Unsurprisingly, the report has a strong focus on understanding and use of AI. futurereport.eu

Interested in how media & information literacy can be integrated into learning in schools? If so, you are welcome to join a free event on 23 October - details below. The webinar reflects work undertaken earlier this year by First News, in association with MILA schools.firstnews.co.uk/articles/ai-...

Media literacy - Committees - UK Parliament This inquiry will seek to establish a clear vision for what good media literacy would look like in the UK, and examine the barriers to achieving this vision. The committee will consider the roles and ...

The UK government & Ofcom have just published their responses to the House of Lords report on media literacy. MILA hasn't hasn't yet looked properly at these, but we will do so & will comment in due course, jointly with other key stakeholders committees.parliament.uk/work/9030/me...

Good Things Foundation @GoodThingsFdn have launched an interactive learning platform designed to demystify artificial intelligence for everyone. It's broken down into simple, manageable lessons so that users can learn at their own pace. A really good resource, well worth a look.
bit.ly/ai-gateway

The right moment for digital safety

Recent research from the UK Dept for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) shows how particular situations may prompt individuals to engage with media literacy. These 'moments of need' could be optimal times to provide targeted support to help develop media literacy www.gov.uk/government/p...

Nothing wrong with blowin your own trumpet Bruce!