Media Literacy (Communications and Digital Committee Report)

Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill Excerpts

Monday 16th March 2026 Grand Committee

[Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill (Lab)]

My Lords, I too served on the Select Committee that produced this excellent and timely report. I congratulate my noble friend Lady Keeley on her leadership and commend our recommendations to the Minister. Media literacy skills are key to protecting our democracy and the well-being of our society by ensuring that citizens can recognise misinformation and disinformation. Trust in news and institutions is dangerously low, yet audiences have access to ever-increasing volumes of content, whether accurate or spurious.

The Government have a responsibility to ensure that their citizens, young and old, have the skills to think critically about the content they consume and create, both online and offline. As our report stated, it is not enough just to outsource media literacy to the regulator, Ofcom, which is tasked with implementing the important Online Safety Act. The Government must lead by appointing a senior Minister to oversee delivery across Whitehall by co-ordinating cross-departmental activity within education, public services and local government. The new working group, although welcome, is not enough.

The online world touches every aspect of our lives and, with the advent of generative artificial intelligence, we must be better prepared to understand how we are affected by what we read. It is not just news, but how we access public services such as health; our employment, entertainment and relationships are all impacted. That is why the committee called for a public awareness campaign to encourage media literacy, and I am pleased that the Government have listened. However, this alone will not counter all the harms that our society is experiencing online, which bleed into the real world, corroding trust, polarising communities, undermining democracy and coarsening public discourse.

The increasing misogyny and violence against women and girls, and the tragedy of young men having their lives ruined by toxic influencers, can be blamed in part on material perpetrated online. There must be tools to build resilience and give people the chance to use technology for good outcomes, rather than to live as victims of the all-powerful online platforms, which need to show some social responsibility. I know the Government have rejected our recommendation for a media levy on tech companies to help fund independent media literacy initiatives, but the tech companies should play a bigger and better role in enabling their consumers to have a safer experience online.

I was pleased to see that the recently published action plan, Protecting What Matters: Towards a More Confident, Cohesive and Resilient United Kingdom, recognises the need to strengthen digital and media literacy

“so people can engage critically with online content and access reliable information”.

I warmly welcome today’s publication of the Government’s media literacy action plan, which addresses many of my concerns.

The findings of the independent review of the school curriculum are an important first step. Media literacy is not just an add-on; it is not enough to cover it only in an English class or the occasional assembly. It needs to be embedded across the curriculum and it needs to start early. So many subjects are accessed online that critical thinking is required throughout, including in sciences and history as well as citizenship. Can the Minister give some assurance that teachers will be actively supported to provide this new level of media literacy? Our report called for updated teacher training and continuous professional development to ensure that teachers feel better equipped to deliver lessons. I regret that the new curriculum will not be implemented in full until September 2028.

The Government’s recently announced consultation on children’s social media use to ensure healthy online experiences is welcome. I hope its conclusions will further boost the commitment made to ensure that media literacy is fundamental to both individual empowerment and democratic resilience, because adults also need support, not just as parents and carers to help their children navigate the internet safely but as citizens and consumers. The shocking level of online fraud revealed by Lloyds last week showed that someone in the UK lost money to a fraudulent seller on Facebook or Instagram every six minutes. The public want to see social media platforms do more to protect them from scams and I welcome the Government’s recognition in the action plan that they need to do more to inform the public.

Media literacy is as fundamental to modern life as reading and writing. Young people must engage positively but cautiously in this digital world. Society needs resilience to fight the determined efforts of bad actors to undermine our values. The Government must lead this battle.