As stated in the report by the Demagog Association, “The Problem of Fake News,” one in five young individuals in Poland does not verify the information they receive. A significant portion of society, regardless of age, does not feel responsible for the quality of publicly shared news, which leads to the spread of false information. According to the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project, as many as 22% of Poles believe that COVID-19 does not exist, and 42% are convinced that the pandemic was artificially caused by the Chinese government.

Research by Franciszek Czech and Paweł Ścigaj indicates that belief in conspiracy theories is linked, among other things, to support for political parties. The strongest belief in the truth of global conspiracy theories is held by voters of the United Right and Confederation parties. In the Podkarpackie region, where our organization is based, this problem is particularly serious, as indicated by both our observations and statistics on political preferences in this region.

We responded to these issues by training 20 young leaders from Podkarpackie region in the diversification of information sources, fact-checking, selecting essential content, conveying it in a simple and transparent manner, and moderating discussions. Each trained individual established cooperation with a social organization and, with their support, organized a series of workshops on fact-checking, argumentation, and discussion culture for residents of a selected area. Additionally, we created an online course on fact-checking, which we promoted as part of a nationwide campaign against fake news.

Our project partner is the Important Issues Foundation, whose mission is to enhance the quality of public debate by discussing significant topics in a straightforward manner. The foundation supported us with their expert knowledge in information verification, training design, and the creation of educational online tools.