YouTube will now teach teens how to spot fake news

YouTube is now launching a new campaign which will aim to help young individuals (13 to 18-year-olds) "stay resilient and confident online", as well as "navigate social media, check facts [and] escape social bubbles". It basically hopes to raise awareness of issues around free speech, comment moderation, and online abuse.

Internet Citizens, a series of day-long workshops is taking place across the UK, as part of the company’s global YouTube Creators for Change program, which supports creators who are tackling social issues and promoting awareness, tolerance, and empathy on their YouTube channels. These workshops will be led by YouTube-associated content creators including Nadir Nahdi, the founder of digital youth platform BENI.

This is just one part of our commitment to a better web. Alongside this, we’re exploring more innovative ways to use technology and to partner with experts to help us tackle hate speech online. We’ll share more updates on these areas in the coming weeks, stated the YouTube blog.

The workshops will teach skills on how to participate safely and responsibly, and use tools such as flagging and comment moderation to make the web better for all. Some of the specific topics include what could be done in response to offensive speech, fake news, echo chambers and how they could use video to bring diverse groups together.