The government has announced a grant of over £1 million to 17 UK organisations to pilot new ways of supporting vulnerable people to stay safe online and avoid being misled by disinformation.

Many of the selected firms will reportedly aim to boost media literacy skills for people at risk of experiencing online abuse and being deceived into believing false information, such as vaccine disinformation, deepfake videos or propaganda created by hostile states.

Grant recipients include online safety charity Glitch, which will deliver workshops and training to vulnerable and marginalised women to support their media literacy skills including tackling online abuse.

NewsGuard, the online news and information credibility tracker, will work with ageing-focused charities to deliver workshops to older adults to support them in spotting mis- and disinformation online.

The announcement coincides with the UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week, a global initiative celebrating the progress countries have made toward making media literacy education more accessible to its citizens by implementing national media and information literacy policies.

“With the rise of online disinformation, teaching people to identify fact from fiction has never been more important to public safety,” said digital secretary Michelle Donelan. “As well as bringing forward new laws to tackle the root causes of these problems, we are funding organisations to give people the skills to stay safe online so everyone can benefit from all the internet has to offer.

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