A lesson for Taiwan? Finnish children start media literacy education at age 3, and AI fake news detection is incorporated into the curriculum.

Finland has been promoting media literacy education since children as young as 3 years old and integrating AI recognition into the curriculum to combat fake news. In contrast, the media literacy skills of the Taiwanese public face challenges, with a low verification rate. Finland’s educational model may serve as a reference.

Finnish Children Start Learning Media Literacy at Age 3 to Counter Russian Fake News Threats

Should media literacy education start from a young age? A recent report by The Associated Press states that for decades, Finland has incorporated media literacy into the national curriculum, even designing teaching content for children as young as 3 years old to cultivate skills in analyzing media and identifying fake news.

The Finnish government believes that media literacy is not only an essential civic skill but also crucial for national security and the stability of democratic systems.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and its intensified disinformation campaigns targeting Europe, as well as Finland’s accession to NATO in 2023 which angered Moscow authorities, Finnish teachers now face a new task: incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) literacy into their courses.

AI Tools as a Double-Edged Sword: Recognizing Generated Content Becomes a New Challenge

At Tapanila Primary School in northern Helsinki, teacher and vice principal Ville Vanhanen is teaching an AI literacy course.

Vanhanen points out that the current focus of teaching is on identifying whether images or videos are AI-generated. In recent classes, fourth-grade students were asked to list five key points to pay attention to when browsing online news to ensure the credibility of information sources.

Image source: Danville YMCA, Callie Lipkin Photography. Illustration of Finnish children learning media literacy from an early age.

Expert Martha Turnbull from the Helsinki Center for Excellence in Hybrid Threats also warns that, although fake content generated by AI is currently easier to identify due to quality issues, as technology advances to the proxy AI stage, distinguishing truth from falsehood will become more difficult.

Finland Ranks First in Europe for Media Literacy and Has Become a Civic Skill

Since the 1990s, Finland has incorporated media literacy into its education curriculum, embedding this skill deeply into the local culture.

According to the European Media Literacy Index compiled by the Open Society Institute, Finland has maintained the top position in Europe from 2017 to 2023.

In addition to school education, Finnish media also plays an important role, such as hosting the annual “Newspaper Week,” distributing publications to young people, and the Helsinki Times even plans to distribute a “Media Literacy ABC Manual” to all 15-year-old students nationwide in 2024.

Image source: European Media Literacy Index report. Finland has consistently ranked first in the European Media Literacy Index from 2017 to 2023.

Finnish Media Literacy Education as a Model for Taiwan

While Finland leads in media literacy education, Taiwan’s current situation faces challenges.

According to an analysis by the Global Taiwan Institute, Taiwan’s digital environment is heavily influenced by echo chambers and information cocoons; the 2025 Taiwan Internet Report further reveals that Taiwanese people have significantly shifted their news sources toward social media platforms. Although up to 57.11% of the public believe they are capable of verifying information, only 13.6% actually do so regularly.

Wen-wei Su, Director of the Digital Promotion Program at the Ministry of Education, pointed out that although about 70% of the public self-identify as capable of recognizing AI-generated content, empirical studies show the accuracy rate is only about 60%, reflecting a phenomenon of “AI false confidence.”

Scholar Chang Yu-min and Wu Chi-yin also analyze that, although highly educated young generations are proficient with digital tools, they may overlook potential risks due to overconfidence. Finland’s education model, starting from early childhood, may offer lessons for Taiwan to improve the prevalence of fake news and enhance verification awareness.

Further Reading:
Have you seen Dr. Chen Chih-ming on YouTube? AI fake doctors spreading rumors. The Ministry of Health and Welfare: It has already violated the Medical Practitioners Act.