Andreas Solaro / Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By JASON HOROWITZ
October 18, 2017
ROME
— After reading the horrors in Dante’s “Inferno,” Italian students will
soon turn to the dangers of the digital age. While juggling math
assignments, they’ll also tackle worksheets prepared by reporters from
the national broadcaster RAI. And separate from the weekly hour of
religion, they will receive a list of what amounts to a new set of Ten
Commandments for the digital age.
Among them: Thou
shalt not share unverified news; thou shall ask for sources and
evidence; thou shall remember that the internet and social networks can
be manipulated.
The lessons are part of an
extraordinary experiment by the Italian government, in cooperation with
leading digital companies including Facebook, to train a generation of
students steeped in social media how to recognize fake news and
conspiracy theories online.
“Fake news drips drops
of poison into our daily web diet and we end up infected without even
realizing it,” said Laura Boldrini, the president of the Italian lower
house of Parliament, who has spearheaded the project with the Italian
Ministry of Education. Read more...
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