As our lives become ever more online, social media platforms can be an invaluable way for people to connect with others, but these can also be spaces where information sharing goes unchecked and, increasingly, where disinformation can be consumed, believed and passed on.
Our own Prime minister hit back at X’s chief executive Elon Musk this week, saying ‘those that are spreading lies and misinformation…are not interested in victims’
We have known for years that social media employs algorithms to serve us tailored content based on our habits, beliefs and profiles. This can deliver us content that is helpful to us. But it is also open to increasing the creation, targeting and reach of fake news and disinformation. The dawn of artificial intelligence (AI) has only served to speed this process up, and it feels like we are at a crossroads at which we each need to proactively consider what we do in these spaces and choose our course carefully.
As education providers, we hold a crucial responsibility to promote constructive dialogue and truth, to embrace and enable communities to come together, and to ensure we support equality, diversity and inclusivity in everything we do. We each need to recognise the importance of ensuring our learners, staff, and broader community engage in digital spaces that foster respectful collaboration and learning.
WM College now turns its focus to other platforms that better align with its values. The college is committed to maintaining reliable and transparent communication with its community through these channels.
Our decision to step away from Twitter/X reflects our ongoing commitment to our principles of integrity, diversity, and social responsibility. We encourage all our partners, fellow educational institutions, learners, supporters, and friends to consider the role they play in creating and supporting responsible digital spaces.
But this is just one step.
We’re looking at how we can formally embed the spotting and checking of fake news into our curriculums
As colleges, we operate as hubs in our local communities, helping to challenge isolation and loneliness, bringing our communities together through social cohesion, and providing a physical and online space where people can learn, socialise, share – and challenge – views. We, and other adult learning providers across the UK, are in the perfect position to help people to develop the critical thinking skills that will support them to challenge and interrogate what they see, hear and read.
At WM College, our tutors are already having conversations with learners about how they can spot and check fake news, and we are now looking at how we can formally embed this in our curriculums, student and staff inductions, and community outreach
However, to tackle this challenge properly, institutions need more dedicated funding from government to offer widely accessible courses on misinformation. The more we educate our society on this issue, the better equipped we are to support unity, embrace diversity, and drive social and economic progress.
While this helps those already through our door, it is subject to a bigger problem. Research shows there is an education gap in misinformation and disinformation acceptance. The more education an individual has undertaken, the more likely they are to mistrust and interrogate the information they consume. However, access to education in the UK still lacks equality. As a nation, we are failing to reach those who are most distant from employment and community engagement.
We know adult learning has the ability to get people back into work, to increase aspirations and career progression, to tackle loneliness and improve health and wellbeing, but we now know it is also a critical touchpoint that increases skills and conversations to counter disinformation.
As well as reviewing our own digital presences, we need to find more ways to provide points of access and educational opportunities, together with a fair funding system to ensure all those who would benefit from education have the opportunity to do so.
This is a complex problem that we cannot solve overnight. But by recognising the important role we play and the actions we can take to arm and deploy adult colleges in the fight against disinformation, we can be an effective part of the arsenal against activity that can undermine all that we – as educators – are trying to achieve in building a cohesive society.
While this decision is welcome, like many others who have moved away from Twitter/X, if you are going to make a stand against a platform, I think you also need to tell your audience what will take its place. There is an interesting choice at the moment, and this could have been a great opportunity to spread the news about more appropriate alternatives.