The possibilities of digital communication and the establishment of social media have led to an explosion of available information. For any question that may arise, internet sources can be consulted and answers found immediately. Information services and opinion makers are non-stop busy providing us with information that is more or less important to us. Inevitably, we are exposed to a permanent influence that we can hardly escape.

But how do you find your way through this jungle of information? How do you distinguish facts from opinions? How do you judge the quality of facts? How do you detect attempts of manipulation?

The project idea

The #IMMUNE project is based on the assumption that the current problem of the spread of "fake news" can only be tackled with consistent individual immunization. If each individual citizen can assess information, deal with it in a mature manner and place it in a context, the current problem of "fake news" and the associated targeted manipulation of public opinion and its corrosive effect on society will be mitigated. At the same time, addressing the issue offers the opportunity to fundamentally engage with political communication in the 21st century. Thus, by engaging with the current phenomenon of "fake news", the target groups further develop democratic maturity.

The #IMMUNE project addresses this issue by

• Learning about and understanding the functioning and logic of modern communication, e.g. the algorithms of social media,
• Learning about and understanding the phenomenon of political and social influence in modern media,
• Learn methods to distinguish opinions from facts and assess the quality of information,
• To become aware of the basics of democratic communication and to develop them further.

Project goal

The project develops a digital platform on which teaching content and background information on the topics described above is offered. Teachers of all kinds (teachers, youth group leaders, training leaders, parents) should on the one hand have the possibility to educate themselves on these topics. On the other hand, they will be provided with methods and contents that they can use directly in their teaching context. In the medium to long term, the project aims to help ensure that the topic of opinion manipulation on the internet is addressed more systematically and discussed more broadly in various teaching institutions in the partner countries and beyond.