Imagine a child sitting on the sofa, phone in hand, scrolling through a never-ending stream of videos, memes, and headlines. One video shows a celebrity endorsing a miracle diet. Another claims the government is hiding something. A third looks like a news report but feels a little off. For today’s children, this is normal. They have grown up in an online world where fact and fiction sit side by side, where a deepfake can look as real as a family photo, and where an algorithm decides what they see next. It is an information environment unlike anything previous generations experienced, and it is changing the way children understand truth, trust, and the world around them. The challenge is not just whether they can tell real from fake; it is whether they even know to try. Social media platforms and AI tools have made it easier than ever to create and spread misleading content, and harder than ever to spot it. Knowing what to believe has always been important, but for children today, it has become an essential life skill. That is why organizations like Internet Matters, a UK-based online safety charity, are stepping in with practical tools to help children navigate this confusing landscape. Their latest effort, an interactive quiz called Find the Fake, is designed to do exactly what its name promises: teach children to spot misleading content and build the kind of critical thinking that will protect them long after they close the app.
The scale of the problem is striking. Internet Matters research found that nearly two thirds of children, 68%, had seen some form of misleading content online in just a six-month period. This is not an occasional mistake or a rare encounter; it is part of everyday digital life. Most of this content is encountered on social media, with TikTok being the platform where children are most likely to come across it. Among children who had seen false or misleading information in the past year, 47% said they saw it on TikTok, followed by YouTube at 38%, Instagram at 27%, and Facebook at 26%. The forms this content takes are varied and often surprisingly ordinary. Around 25% of children reported seeing scams and fake giveaways, another 25% saw false stories about celebrities, and 18% encountered misleading information about news events. Some of the examples shared by children show just how convincing and strange this content can be. One 14-year-old boy reported seeing a claim that eating lots of kiwis helps build muscle. Another 13-year-old described people pretending to test products when they were actually trying to sell them. A third child mentioned a viral post falsely claiming that a new tax law would take 40% of all savings over £20,000. None of these examples are abstract. They are the kind of content that appears in children’s feeds every day, designed to grab attention, generate clicks, or push an agenda. And it does not just sit there harmlessly. Exposure to misleading content has a real impact on children’s wellbeing. Among those who encountered it, 68% said they felt negatively affected in some way. Some felt worried, 13%, while 19% felt confused, and 30% said it made them less trusting of what they see online. That loss of trust is particularly troubling, because it can spread beyond social media and make children question legitimate news, credible information, and even the people around them.
The rise of AI has made all of this much worse. It used to be that fake news was often clumsily written, full of strange grammar or obvious errors. Today, AI can generate articles, images, and videos that look almost completely authentic. It can produce a realistic-looking news story in seconds, mimic a person’s voice, or create a video of something that never happened. Internet Matters research from 2025 found that 27% of children had believed a fake or AI-generated news story, and a further 41% thought they might have. That means more than two thirds of children are uncertain whether something they believed was true was actually fabricated. This uncertainty is deeply unsettling, and it is not just children who struggle. Even adults are being fooled by AI-generated content every day. The problem is compounded by the fact that many people are now turning to AI tools for help in verifying information. According to the research, 23% of children and 30% of parents said they use AI to check whether information is accurate. But this is far from a reliable solution. A BBC study from 2025 found that AI assistants and search overviews misrepresented news content 45% of the time. In other words, the very tools people are turning to for truth often deliver misinformation themselves. This is a dangerous cycle. Children see something suspicious, ask an AI assistant for clarification, and are given an answer that may be just as inaccurate as the original content. It is no wonder parents are worried. Concern about children coming across misinformation online is now one of the top online safety concerns among parents, tied with screen time. 73% of parents said they are worried about misinformation, a huge jump from 49% in 2020. That increase reflects how quickly the problem has grown, and how visible it has become in everyday conversations.
So what do children actually do when they want to check whether something online is true? The good news is that many of them still turn to the people who care about them. 59% of children said they go to a trusted adult when they want to verify something they have seen online. That is a reminder of how important parents, carers, and teachers are in this conversation. A child may not always mention what they saw online, but when they do ask, the adults in their lives need to be ready to help. This is not always easy, because adults are also navigating a rapidly changing information landscape. Many parents are not confident about how to talk to their children about misinformation, fake news, or AI-generated content. They know it is a problem, but they may not know how to explain it or how to help their children think critically about what they see. The good news is that media literacy does not have to be taught in a formal, classroom-only way. It can be built through small, everyday conversations, through asking questions, through being curious together. When a child shares something suspicious, an adult can ask, “Where did you see this? Who made it? Why might they want you to believe it? What evidence is there?” These simple questions plant the seeds of critical thinking. They help children understand that not everything online is true, and that even true things can be presented in misleading ways. The task is not to make children cynical or paranoid, but to give them a healthy sense of curiosity and a habit of pausing before believing.
That is exactly where Find the Fake comes in. Internet Matters has launched a new version of this interactive quiz, designed specifically to help children build media literacy skills in a way that feels fun, not preachy. The quizzes use a mix of real and fake content, challenging children to spot mis- and disinformation, understand how AI can be used to create convincing but misleading content, think critically about online information, and explore how false information spreads. It is not about memorizing a list of rules. It is about developing instincts. The quiz encourages children to look beyond first impressions, to notice details, to question the source, and to think about the motivation behind a post. It is designed to spark discussion, debate, and curiosity. Children can do it on their own, with a parent or carer at home, or in a classroom as part of a healthy competition. The social element is important, because talking about misleading content helps normalize the idea that being uncertain is okay, and that asking questions is a sign of intelligence, not weakness. When children work through a quiz together, they hear different perspectives and learn from each other. They begin to see that critical thinking is a shared skill, not something they have to figure out alone. For parents and teachers, Find the Fake offers a practical, accessible way to start conversations that might otherwise feel awkward or complicated. Instead of giving a lecture about fake news, they can sit down with a child and play a game. Instead of warning about AI, they can show a child how a convincingly fake post is built and ask what clues gave it away. That kind of learning sticks, because it is active, visual, and personal.
But no quiz, no matter how well designed, can solve this problem alone. It is not fair to leave the responsibility entirely to parents and teachers, who are already stretched thin and who may feel out of their depth in the face of rapidly evolving technology. Everyone has a role to play. Internet Matters is calling on the government to provide schools with clear guidance, along with the training and resources they need to teach children about misinformation, fake news, and AI with confidence. This is not an optional extra. Media literacy should be seen as a core part of preparing children for the world they live in, just like reading, writing, and math. Schools need support to integrate these lessons into everyday learning, not just as a one-off workshop but as an ongoing conversation. Platforms also have a responsibility. Social media companies and tech companies make enormous profits from the attention of users, including children. They need to do more to make the online environments children use safer, to help users understand when content may be misleading or AI-generated, and to design systems that do not amplify false information. Some progress has been made, but it is not enough. As misinformation becomes harder to spot and AI makes convincing content easier to create, the need for action becomes more urgent. Giving children the skills and knowledge to question, understand, and navigate what they see online has never been more important. This is not about shielding children from the internet or wrapping them in bubble wrap. It is about empowering them to move through the digital world with confidence and clarity. It is about raising a generation that is not easily fooled, but also not afraid to be curious, a generation that knows how to ask good questions and find trustworthy answers. The online world is not going away, and neither will the challenges that come with it. But with the right tools, the right conversations, and the right support, children can learn to find the fake, protect their own understanding, and become thoughtful citizens of a digital world that is only becoming more complex.