One of the reasons why Maldita.es is a non-profit organization, and not 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. In recent years, we have delivered more than 100 workshops, courses and talks, and that is why we are now launching Maldita Educa, Maldita.es’ education platform.
From schools and civil society
As citizens, we must be aware of the threat posed by the spread of hoaxes and understand that we are part of the problem. Hoaxes contribute, for example, to fueling hate speech against vulnerable groups, or to creating misleading ideas about health that can be dangerous.
We want to work on building critical thinking among younger generations, providing them with tools to fight falsehoods and helping create a more informed society when making decisions. Maldita.es works on this through workshops, master’s classes, courses and training sessions. We have extensive experience in this field after several years providing training in different universities.
But it is also essential to equip the rest of society with the ability to distinguish between what is true and what is false if we want to avoid putting democracy at risk, and to do so through activities that combine education with entertainment, in order to reach people who would not normally seek training on these topics.
From the media
Journalists and media outlets are the anchor citizens can rely on as a reference to find accurate and verified information. Journalists have the responsibility to know and use verification tools and methodologies to prevent unverified content from circulating and going viral.
In addition, collaboration between media organizations is essential if we want to achieve results in the fight against disinformation, with initiatives such as the one coordinated by Maldita.es together with First Draft, Comprobado: 16 media outlets united to fight disinformation and political lies during elections.
From public institutions and companies
Public administrations must continue working on training their staff and promoting a culture of transparency in public institutions so that citizens have access to information about the management of public resources. Transparency is another tool to stop hoaxes, because the lack of available information allows disinformation to grow. At Maldita.es we train public officials on the key elements of fighting disinformation from within public institutions.
But the speed at which disinformation spreads is also a major problem for companies and brands. How should they react to a disinformation crisis? How can they identify false claims circulating about a company or organization? In this environment, it is essential to be prepared to detect, respond to and debunk hoaxes, and above all to do so in time.
Journalism, transparency and fact-checking in the face of the threats faced by organizations and public institutions.
What is Maldita Educa like?
Each course, talk or workshop is designed specifically by our team according to the participants, their level of knowledge and the available time. Our curriculum covers the following topics:
- Hoaxes and disinformation: media literacy and the digital ecosystem, new forms of consumption and new risks.
- Fact-checking: verification methodology and tools.
- Transparency: access to information in public institutions.
- Data journalism: methodology and tools.
- Science 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 young people in schools to verify their own information, encourage critical thinking, and explain how platforms and their algorithms work. Among the resources they can use are Maldita.es’ verification toolbox, the Buloteca, where we debunk hoaxes with our community, and our guide so you don’t get fooled.
Are you part of a company, university, school, public administration… and want to join our fight against disinformation? Write to us at [email protected].