Digital Detectives Against Misinformation
is officially a go.
INFOSHIELD GEN Z has secured European Solidarity Corps funding to reach 180–220 young people across Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa with hands-on media literacy skills — built by Gen Z, for Gen Z.
“BREAKING: Finnish politicians secretly voting to cut social benefits next month“
↑ Hover the black bar. This is exactly the kind of claim our workshops teach people to catch.
It started with a manipulated video and two hours nobody expected to spend talking about it.
In November 2025, around fifteen young volunteers gathered at a routine Femina ry meeting in Kerava. One of them, Valeria, described how relatives had shared a fabricated video claiming Finnish politicians were secretly planning to cut social benefits. It looked completely real. Correcting it, without starting a fight, turned out to be harder than anyone expected.
What followed wasn’t a debate about politics — it was a flood of near-identical stories: friends convinced by TikTok conspiracy content, immigrant communities targeted by misleading posts in their own languages, peers who had simply stopped trusting news altogether.
The group didn’t need a theory of misinformation. They needed a method — one built for the platforms young people actually use.
“We are Gen Z. We live on TikTok and Instagram. Why are we waiting for others to fix this when we could do it ourselves — in the same spaces where the fake news spreads?”— Femina ry volunteer meeting, November 2025
Not more theory. A measurable shift in behaviour.
The goal isn’t to turn anyone into a journalist. It’s to buy three seconds of hesitation before a post gets shared — and to make checking a source feel normal, not embarrassing.
- 01Deliver 8–10 interactive workshops in schools and youth centres across Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa.
- 02Reach at least 180 direct participants, prioritising vocational students, multilingual and immigrant youth, and lower-income neighbourhoods.
- 03Demonstrate a 35–45% improvement in participants’ ability to identify manipulated content.
- 04Ensure at least 40% of participants come from vocational, multilingual, or lower-income backgrounds.
- 05Train 10–15 peer ambassadors who keep sharing verification skills after the project ends.
- 06Publish one open-access digital toolkit for teachers and youth workers, free to reuse.
Eight months, in order.
Preparation, piloting, delivery, and a toolkit designed to outlive the project itself.
Built for the young people usually left out of media-literacy programmes.
Participation is free. Outreach specifically targets those who rarely access non-formal education — not because they’re less capable, but because they’re rarely invited.
Practical barriers — transport, language, device access, accessibility needs — are removed through targeted support, not treated as someone else’s problem.
Five young people. One shared mission.
All five members found each other through Femina ry’s youth network — no team-building required, just a question nobody else was answering.
Valeria Skaldina
19 · Finnish–UkrainianManages timeline, reporting, and liaison with the National Agency.
Daniel Nieminen
19 · IT StudentDesigns the verification exercises and leads the algorithms module.
Maria Kezhaeva
20 · Finnish–DanishAdapts materials for non-Finnish-speaking audiences and leads content.
German Morris
20 · Estonian–FinnishRecruits participants from underrepresented networks and co-facilitates.
Sanna Korhonen
20 · Business & Admin StudentRuns venues, materials, budget — and team wellbeing.
Laura Maria Rajala
Youth work and non-formal education background, supporting group processes in multicultural environments.
Ganna Oikkonen
Project coordination and inclusion expertise, with practical knowledge of EU-funded reporting.
What success looks like — on three levels.
A pause, not just a lesson
60–70% of participants report increased confidence in checking sources.
A ripple past the workshop room
2,000–3,000 indirect beneficiaries reached through content and local presentations.
Tools that outlast the funding
An open toolkit with a 200–300 download target and 3+ partners continuing to use it.
Want your school or youth centre involved?
We’re booking workshop slots for Months 3–6 now — vocational schools and multicultural youth spaces get priority.
Get in touch →Femina ry
A Finnish non-profit working at the intersection of youth empowerment, gender equality, and non-formal education.
Since 2017, Femina ry has supported young people across Finland, providing legal, financial, and administrative backing for youth-led projects like this one — while participants retain full ownership of the ideas.
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