Hamburg, 27 August 2026. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding a collaborative, interdisciplinary project on young people’s trust in information and institutions, conducted jointly by the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) and the Weizenbaum Institute.
How do digital media influence young people’s trust in information and their democratic participation? This is the focus of the DFG-funded research project “SETA – Safeguarding Epistemic Trust in Adolescents: Conceptual Approaches and Policy Options.” The interdisciplinary team from the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institute (HBI) and the Weizenbaum Institute has been awarded approximately 600,000 euros for this project over a period of 36 months. The project is part of the DFG Priority Programme “Rethinking Disinformation (Re:Dis).”
The project focuses on how young people develop trust in reliable information, the influence of disinformation on this process, and the state’s responsibility in protecting ‘epistemic trust’ — the ability to trust reliable sources of information and participate in democratic debates on that basis. To this end, the research team will conduct interviews with adolescents aged 13–17. Based on these findings, the team will develop recommendations for policymakers and practitioners to empower young people without restricting their freedom of expression or access to information.
“Young people must learn to navigate a digital information landscape in which credible information and misleading content often appear side by side. We want to better understand how trust in information and institutions is built or eroded, and what young people need in order to be able to form their own independent judgements,” explains Prof. Dr. Judith Möller, SETA co-project leader and Scientific Director of the HBI.
“Protecting young people from disinformation is a democratic challenge and a crucial issue for the future of our democracy. We are examining the state’s responsibility in this regard and how protective measures must be designed to be effective while safeguarding the fundamental rights of young people,” says Dr. Clara Iglesias Keller, SETA co-project leader and head of the ‘Technology, Power, Domination’ research group at the Weizenbaum Institute.
This interdisciplinary project brings together research in the fields of law, communication studies, and democratic theory. In collaboration with representatives from academia, politics, and civil society, the research team is developing a scientifically grounded framework to distinguish effective protective measures for young people from excessive government regulation and to derive concrete recommendations for action from this framework.
Contact
Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI)
Dr. Wiebke Schoon
w.schoon@leibniz-hbi.de
Weizenbaum Institute
Jasmine Ait-Djoudi
jasmine.ait-djoudi@weizenbaum-institut.de
About the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI)
Since 1950, the Leibniz Institute for Media Research has been conducting research on media transformation and the associated structural changes in public communication. Adopting a cross-media, interdisciplinary and independent approach, the institute combines basic and applied research to generate knowledge relevant to policy, business and civil society. In 2019, the institute was admitted to the Leibniz Association. Learn more at https://leibniz-hbi.de/en/.
About the Weizenbaum Institute
Founded in 2017, the Weizenbaum Institute conducts research on the impact of advancing digitalization on society. The institute’s research topics range from artificial intelligence and the platform economy to digital democracy, sustainability, security, participation, and justice in the context of digital transformation. Through its recommendations for action, the Institute ensures that the digital transformation is sustainable, self-determined, and responsible. The Weizenbaum Institute is supported by a consortium of seven partners: Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, Technical University of Berlin, Berlin University of the Arts, University of Potsdam, the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS), and the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB). The institute receives funding from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) and the State of Berlin. It is located in Berlin.
Photo: Noelle Rebekah on Unsplash