Finland, rated Europe's most resistant nation to fake news, has introduced a national curriculum teaching information literacy from primary school onwards. The programme, launched in 2016, aims to equip pupils with critical thinking skills to detect misinformation and disinformation.
Head teacher Kari Kivinen of a state-run college in Helsinki explained that fairytales are used with young children to illustrate deception, such as the wily fox who cheats other animals. In secondary schools, multi-platform information literacy is a core component across subjects: maths lessons show how statistics can lie, art demonstrates image manipulation, history analyses propaganda, and language teachers explore deceptive word use.
The curriculum is part of a broader strategy devised after 2014, when Finland was targeted with fake news by Russia. Jussi Toivanen, chief communications officer for the prime minister's office, said the campaign aims to erode Finnish values and trust in institutions. Finland, independent from Russia since 1917, is on the frontline of an online information war intensified after Moscow's annexation of Crimea.
Resistance is treated as a civil defence issue, with a high-level committee training thousands of civil servants, journalists, teachers, and librarians. Saara Jantunen, a defence ministry researcher, compared it to virus protection: the government provides a base level, but individuals must install the software. Kivinen stressed that no one is too young to start thinking critically about information, especially as children encounter news via algorithms on platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram.
