NEWSROOM

Verified Information on the Campus project, which started on university campuses in September 2022, brought together university students in Istanbul, Ankara, and Eskişehir throughout the past academic year through Verification. The project aimed to establish a mindset of critical thinking and verification, and its outcomes reached thousands of people. The project, focusing on critical digital literacy, successfully concluded after one year, marked by university students visiting the Verification office.

The project was conducted in 3 cities, involved 5 universities, and engaged 263 students

TURKEY - The Verification Platform’s Verified Information on the Campus project, conducted during the 2022-2023 academic year, lasted for one year with the participation of a total of 263 university students aged 18-22 from 5 different universities in Istanbul, Ankara and Eskişehir.

Recent research indicates that younger generations are not as successful as expected in avoiding believing in false information. According to findings from the Center for Combating Digital Hate, 60% of participants aged 13 to 17 agree with four or more expressions containing harmful conspiracy theories. This rate is only 49% in adults. For young people spending four or more hours on social media daily, this rate can go up to 69%. Social media increasingly dominate young people's news consumption and online search habits. According to Google's latest data, 40% of Generation Z now prefers social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram over search engines.

A study conducted in 2022 revealed that half of Generation Z participants use social media to access news during the day, with only 5% reading newspapers. However, at the same time, awareness among younger generations about the dangers that the online world can pose is higher. While 68% of adults acknowledge that online activities can lead to serious harm, 83% of those aged 13 to 17 are aware that online harms can have offline consequences.

The participating students examined 127 pieces of suspicious information as part of the project

Esra Özgür, the Education Programs Responsible at Teyit and the project's coordinator, stated that the main goal of the project is to identify clues on how to ensure the accuracy of information that shapes everyone's decisions and to find ways to disseminate this knowledge with young people. She said, "The disruption of face-to-face education not only distanced students from campuses but also from social spaces that open up opportunities for sharing experiences within their communities. We realized that the project process went beyond being an individual and digital practice of verification; it strengthened each other as a community against suspicious information.”

Seray Şahin, one of the project participants, summarized the contribution of the project to herself and her surroundings, saying, "I had explained some of the verification methods I learned to my family. Later, I noticed that my mother was engaging in verification in the WhatsApp groups she is part of. Seeing that I could influence my surroundings with what I learned will always stay with me.”

Ninety-four percent of the students who completed the project believe that anyone can engage in verification. Ninety-three percent of the participating students feel strengthened in verification and critical digital literacy after the workshops. Contents produced by students explaining the importance of verification and verification methods reached a total of 24,886 people. Throughout the year, students examined 127 suspicious pieces of information spread on social media and supported the Teyit team.

The Insight Report containing the outputs of the Verified Information on the Campus project is available for free on Teyit's website in the publications section