How Finland, ranked first of 41 European countries in a media literacy survey, teaches students to spot misinformation on social media, starting in preschool
The Nordic country is testing new ways to teach students about propaganda. Here's what other countries can learn from its success. Tweets: @cendemtech , @slwalter123 , @enjig , @manoj_naandi , @ivanabartoletti , @nrarmour , @grantwyeth , @analopezct , @oxforddiplomat , @classtechtips , @sirjamesa12 , @jonathancohn , @kkomaitis , @caulfieldtim , @ivanabartoletti , @mrbrownsir , @sahagunfelipe , @ninarobertsnyc , @ale_accorsi , @scottnolansmith , @hoosier_teacher , @melissafleming , @abhinandansekhr , and @chitranshoe See also Mediagazer Tweets: @cendemtech : “In a class last month, she showed students three TikTok videos, & they discussed the creators' motivations & the effect videos had on them. Her goal, like that of teachers around Finland, is to help students learn to identify false info.” #misinformation https://www.nytimes.com/... Scott Walter / @slwalter123 : Finland demonstrates the value of information literacy instruction across the curriculum. In other news, school librarian positions have been eliminated across the US & libraries are under attack for providing access to information @nytimes https://www.nytimes.com/... @enjig : “... Finland's success is ... also because of a concerted effort to teach students about fake news. Media literacy is part of the national core curriculum starting in preschool.” https://www.nytimes.com/... Manoj Kumar / @manoj_naandi : “Even though today's teenagers have grown up with social media, that does not mean that they know how to identify and guard against manipulated videos of politicians or news articles on TikTok.” The Finland 🇫🇮 Model of Education to tackle Fake News. https://www.nytimes.com/... Ivana Bartoletti / @ivanabartoletti : “During Ms. Uusitalo's 16 years as a teacher, she has noticed a clear decline in reading comprehension skills, a trend she attributes to students' spending less time with books and more time with games and watching videos” 2/3 Nancy Armour / @nrarmour : We need this in the US. Desperately. https://twitter.com/... Grant Wyeth / @grantwyeth : “Finland's success is not just the result of its strong education system -one of the best in the world- but also because of a concerted effort to teach students about fake news. Media literacy is part of the national core curriculum starting in preschool” https://www.nytimes.com/... Ana Lopez / @analopezct : Finland is teaching students how to distinguish between truth and fiction. “I can't make them think just like me, I just have to give them the tools to make up their own opinions.” 💜 https://www.nytimes.com/... Dr. Jennifer Cassidy / @oxforddiplomat : One to watch. Extremely interesting case study. Finland is testing new ways to teach students about fake news. Media literacy is part of the national core curriculum starting in preschool. Here's what other countries can learn from its success. https://www.nytimes.com/... @classtechtips : “Together, they discuss: What's the purpose of the article? How and when was it written? What are the author's central claims?” via @nytimes https://www.nytimes.com/... @sirjamesa12 : Finland's 🇫🇮 public schools also have no standardized testing and lack marketplace competition among schools. Here in the states, New Jersey just became the first state to enacted legislation making media literacy mandatory for K-12 students. https://www.nytimes.com/... @jonathancohn : Media literacy should be a core part of the curriculum. https://www.nytimes.com/... @kkomaitis : Finland believes in educating its young generation on how to spot #misinformation rather than believing that you can address societal problems through technical fixes, like the rest of the world does. Let this be an example for the governments of the world! https://twitter.com/... Timothy Caulfield / @caulfieldtim : Love. Critical thinking sooooo key. How Finland Is Teaching a Generation to Spot #Misinformation https://www.nytimes.com/... by @jggross “Finland ranked No. 1 of 41 European countries on resilience against misinformation for the fifth time in a row...” #ScienceUpFirst Ivana Bartoletti / @ivanabartoletti : “With poorer reading skills and shorter attention spans, students are more vulnerable to believing fake news or not having enough knowledge about topics to identify misleading or wrong information”, she said. FIN Matt Brown / @mrbrownsir : “I can't make them think just like me. I just have to give them the tools to make up their own opinions.” https://www.nytimes.com/... @sahagunfelipe : #Finland ranked No. 1 of 41 European countries on resilience against misinformation for the fifth time in a row in a survey published in October by the Open Society Institute in Sofia, Bulgaria. How is it done? https://www.nytimes.com/... v @nytimes Nina Roberts / @ninarobertsnyc : “The threat of Russian misinformation on topics such as Finland's bid to join NATO 'hasn't changed the basics of what we do, but it has shown us that this is the time for what we have been preparing.'” Leppanen on teaching Finnish kids to spot propaganda. https://www.nytimes.com/... Alessandro Accorsi / @ale_accorsi : There is no silver bullet to the information disorder. Fixating only on social media won't help without a whole-of-society approach and without strengthening the overall information environment. https://www.nytimes.com/... Scott Nolan Smith / @scottnolansmith : “They really can't understand fake news or misinformation or anything if they don't understand the relationship between social media and journalism.” https://www.nytimes.com/... Dan Gibson / @hoosier_teacher : How Finland Is Teaching a Generation to Spot Misinformation - Key phrase within the article, “[In Finland,] Teachers are highly respected.” In the US, I have seen and experienced similar lessons. https://www.nytimes.com/... Melissa Fleming / @melissafleming : Impressive: Finland ranked #1 of 41 European countries on resilience against misinformation. Strong education system + concerted effort to teach students about fake news. Media literacy is part of the national core curriculum starting in preschool. https://www.nytimes.com/... Abhinandan Sekhri / @abhinandansekhr : India needs this more than ever. How Finland Is Teaching a Generation to Spot Misinformation https://www.nytimes.com/... Chitranshu Tewari / @chitranshoe : Finland showing the way. Schools with media literacy will produce citizens who are less susceptible to propaganda. https://www.nytimes.com/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Finland's top ranking is not a sudden win: CNN profiled its multi-pronged, cross-sector anti-misinformation strategy back in 2019, and the Open Society Institute survey now scores the payoff — first out of 41 European countries in resilience against false information. The difference today is institutionalization: media literacy sits inside the national core curriculum from preschool onward, rather than depending on ad hoc campaigns or platform goodwill.
That matters because the default defenses elsewhere are weaker. Platforms have leaned on journalists as unpaid moderators, and US schools are only now assembling outside help for teaching about AI and information quality — Finland shows what a state-run version looks like once it compounds over a decade of schooling.
First-order effects
- Finnish teachers now have a tested, curriculum-embedded playbook for spotting propaganda on social media, giving education ministries elsewhere a concrete benchmark instead of a vague aspiration.
- The Open Society Institute ranking turns media literacy into a measurable national-performance metric, putting pressure on the 40 lower-ranked European countries to show comparable programs.
Second-order effects
- US schools already sourcing ready-made AI curriculums from universities, tech companies, and nonprofits have an obvious extension: the same vendor-and-nonprofit channel can supply misinformation-detection modules, shifting demand toward whoever packages them well.
- Platforms that offload moderation onto journalists gain a partial substitute — a more literate user base flags and dismisses false content earlier, easing the moderation load they have struggled to staff.
Third-order effects
- If resilience rankings keep being published, media literacy risks becoming table-stakes education infrastructure, like reading instruction, with governments judged on it — though the FT's warning that politicians themselves are the gravest misinformation source means school-based defenses alone cannot close the gap.
- The long-run pattern points to defense against false information migrating from platform-side takedowns to population-side immunity, changing where regulators and funders direct money — from content policing to teacher training.
The trend: Misinformation defense is shifting from platform moderation toward state-funded, curriculum-embedded media literacy, with Finland as the template other education systems are beginning to copy.