Maldita Educa: against disinformation, education

One of the reasons why Maldita.es is a non-profit organization, rather than a company, is to share our knowledge, share our materials, fight disinformation together, and learn together. Because community and education are Maldita.es‘ solutions against disinformation. Over the past few years, we have conducted over 100 workshops, courses, and talks, which is why we are now introducing Maldita Educa, the educational platform of Maldita.es.

From educational centers and civil society

As citizens, we must be aware of the threat posed by the circulation of hoaxes and that we are involved. For example, hoaxes contribute to fueling hate speech against particularly sensitive groups or creating health-related myths that can be dangerous.

We aim to develop a critical culture among the younger generation, providing them with tools to combat lies and building a more informed society when making decisions. Maldita.es addresses this through workshops, master classes, courses… We have extensive experience in this field after several years of providing training in various universities.

However, it is also essential to equip the rest of the citizenry with the ability to distinguish true from false if we do not want to see democracy at risk, and to do so through activities that mix dissemination with entertainment to reach people who, in principle, might not seek training on these topics.

From the media

Journalists and media outlets are the anchor to which citizens can cling as a reference for finding truthful and verified information. Journalists have the responsibility to know and use the tools and methodologies of verification to prevent unverified content from circulating and going viral.

Moreover, collaboration among media is essential if we want to achieve results in combating disinformation, with initiatives like the one coordinated by Maldita.es with First Draft, Comprobado: 16 media united to fight against disinformation and political lies in elections.

From the Administration and companies

The Administration must continue working on training its employees and on the culture of transparency in public bodies so that citizens have access to information about the management and handling of public resources. Transparency is another weapon that contributes to stopping hoaxes because the lack of available information fosters disinformation. At Maldita.es, we train public personnel in the key aspects of fighting misinformation from the administrations.

But the speed at which disinformation goes viral is also a big problem for companies and brands. How to react to a disinformation emergency? How to locate the disinformation circulating about a company or organization? In this ecosystem, being prepared to locate, react, and debunk a hoax, and especially being able to do so timely, is crucial.

Journalism, transparency, and fact-checking against the threats faced by organizations and the Administration.

What is Maldita Educa?

Each course, talk, or workshop is specifically designed by our team according to the participants, their knowledge, and its duration. Our curriculum covers the following themes:

• Hoaxes and disinformation: media literacy and the digital ecosystem, new forms of consumption and new threats.
• Fact-checking: methodology and verification tools.
• Transparency: access to information in public institutions.
• Data journalism: methodology and tools.
• Scientific journalism: rigor and evidence.

You can find more information about our trainers and courses on the Maldita Educa website.

Teachers, at any educational level, can also be part of this fight against disinformation by helping us educate the younger generations in schools to verify their own information, encourage the development of critical awareness, and explain how platforms and their algorithms work. Among the resources they can use is the Maldita.es verification toolbox,the Buloteca, where we debunk hoaxes with our community, and our manual on how not to be deceived:

Are you part of a company, university, school center, Public Administration… and want to join our fight against misinformation? Write to us at [email protected].