Google will help children identify the 'fake news'

Google has made an update to its program 'Be great on the Internet' to help children identify fake news and other online privacy issues.

Some time ago Google released its program "Be great on the Internet", where children are taught relevant topics of media literacy, such as privacy, data protection and healthy behavior online, among other points.

Currently, the company announced that it added new activities to this program that is related to the detection of false news (or fake news). To the section "Do not fall for traps" of the PDF guide, two new sections have been added that touch on the topic of misinformation.

The first, which bears the name Is that really true? supports children to question and evaluate the credibility of the sources. The goal is to determine if the tools they use to inform themselves have credibility, to understand that if a source provides truthful information about a topic it is not necessarily credible about others, just as it is advisable to read multiple sources.

The second activity, Detect information online, supports determining whether a source of news or information is misleading. This section has exercises to detect fake Internet addresses that could be passed through a verified medium. It also launches an invitation to minors to review the headings to know if they try to manipulate the user to convince him of the information.

The two activities are integrated into others that touch on topics such as phishing and bots. The content has been developed in collaboration with experts in the field, such as Anne Collier, executive director of The Net Safety Collaborative,  co-author of the Teacher's Guide to Media Literacy and co-founder of the association that bears the same name.

Google points out that tools and resources are needed to support children to make the most of technology, and that media literacy is the best option because it is essential for security and citizenship in the digital age. The company has created a "Be cool on the Internet" guide that is available in different languages.

It should be noted that the new activities are not yet exposed in the Spanish version of the PDF guide. The document in English has been updated with the six activities, however, the version in our language only has four that do not touch the subject of false news.