The Commission published today its media literacy guidelines, to enable citizens of all ages to navigate the modern news environment and take informed decisions. The Commission says that media literacy is a crucial skill for all citizens regardless of age, as it empowers people to participate in a more open and informed democratic debate and helps to counter the effects of disinformation campaigns and fake news spreading through digital media.

The revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive (2018/1808/EU), amending Directive 2010/13/EU (AVMSD), strengthens the role of media literacy. It requires Member States to promote and take measures that develop media literacy skills and to report periodically on these actions. The revised AVMSD also obliges video-sharing platforms to provide effective media literacy measures and tools and to raise users’ awareness of those measures and tools.

The guidelines aim to help Member States report on their actions in this area and share best practices.

The guidelines refer to the Media Literacy Toolbox, which was developed in 2021 by the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) together with the Commission. The Toolbox aims to ensure the effective and practical application of media literacy obligations for video-sharing platforms while improving users’ awareness and critical skills when consuming online content. To read the Commission’s press release in full, click here.