Since the war in Ukraine began, we know there are lots of distressing videos on social media being posted. At times of confusion and when people become frightened, misleading information can spread. Most young people don’t question news content they see online and they can sometimes confuse the item that comes up top in their search list as the most reliable!  With so many sources of information, it can be hard to keep up with what is real and what is fake online and even more worrying is a survey carried out by UNICEF that  found up to 75% of children feel unable to judge the accuracy of the information they find online. This was especially true for children in the 9-11 and 12-14 year-old groups. Coincidentally, this is the same age children begin using social media.

If you would like further guidance and be able to continue the conversation at home with your children please download the excellent advice guide from National Online Safety and visit Internet Matters: Fake News & Misinformation Advice Hub which has been specifically created to help inform and educate parents to learn more about what fake news is, how to protect our young people from it, and how to deal with it if they have been affected by it.