Microsoft’s media literacy program aims to empower internet users and combat online misinformation

The Microsoft logo in the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, on March 2, 2023. (AP Photo)

The Associated Press
People are hungry for accurate and reliable information online and may just need help to find it, according to a new media literacy project launched by Microsoft.

The tech company worked with the Trust Project, a nonprofit consortium of news organizations, to create advertisements directing internet users to a list of eight ‘trust indicators’ that can be used to assess a website’s credibility. The indicators include things like the clear labeling of opinion pieces, a code of practices and the attribution of sources.

Most people who saw the list expressed greater confidence in their own ability to find reliable news while ferreting out misinformation — a promising finding that suggests media literacy can be a cheap and scalable solution to the daunting problem of online misinformation. MORE