The Media Industry Research Foundation of Finland contributes €40 000 to EU Kids Online project

The Media Industry Research Foundation granted 40,000 euros in research support to Tampere University´s project "EU Kids Online Research in Finland 2024–2025: Children as Actors on the Internet, Digital Media Literacy and Learning." The foundation made the decision at its meeting on June 5.

The EU Kids Online research project is one of the largest studies in Europe examining the experiences, risks, and problems of children and young people using the internet. Each participating country has a research team involved in conducting and analyzing the research data. The EU Kids Online research in Finland is part of this international, statistically and comparatively international research project. The first round of the EU Kids Online study was conducted in 2010. The longitudinal study focuses on children's agency online as well as the risks children face and their understanding of their own digital media literacy.

"In this third round of research, in addition to the core themes, new themes include examining children's criticality towards artificial intelligence, the identification of fake news, and fact-checking practices. Critical digital skills are thus now more broadly in focus than before," says Professor of Media Education Sirkku Kotilainen.

In the project, 10-15-year-old children will respond to an online survey in primary schools with geographical representativeness in the fall of 2024 in a total of 25 European countries.

New information will be built as a longitudinal study of the development of internet use in relation to previous EU Kids Online rounds, which were also conducted in Finland. Current new information will be built on the technical skills of children and young people, the understanding of AI-based communication, and the identification of fake news. The examination is broad in terms of content, starting from media offerings, such as news content, to user-generated publishing on different channels.