Remember the house hippo? Here’s what it’s up to now
The friendly house hippo that taught Canadians not to trust everything they see on TV has found itself a new gig.
Driving the news: Canadian non-profit MediaSmarts brought back the ’90s icon to launch its Break the Fake campaign, a new media literacy program designed to help Canadians spot AI deepfakes.
- The federally funded program includes lesson plans for teachers, educational videos, and tip sheets on identifying AI-generated content.
Catch-up: Young people can be particularly susceptible to disinformation, and with many of them chronically online, they’re being exposed to a lot of it. One analysis found that kids as young as nine will run into misinformation within minutes of opening a TikTok account.
Why it matters: The sheer volume of disinformation and deepfakery is far outpacing digital platforms’ ability to police it. Experts argue that teaching media literacy in schools is the best line of defence against fake content that, thanks to AI, is getting more realistic by the day.
- Finland, which has mandatory media literacy lessons in schools, has consistently ranked as the top country in Europe for resilience to misinformation.
Bottom line: Education is run by provinces, but some advocates say Ottawa should create national standards for teaching media literacy, similar to the ones in place for the health curriculum.
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