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.”
Trust is the unspoken prerequisite of any knowledge-based society. No one can verify whether a medication works, if a statistic is accurate, or if a video is genuine. We all rely on knowledge from trustworthy sources. The ability to reasonably trust others’ knowledge while seeing through dubious claims is under strain among young people in the age of digital misinformation. Many young people distrust traditional media outlets and primarily get their news from social media platforms, where they often encounter false, misleading, or dubious information. Studies show that adolescents’ epistemic trust is unstable and that excessive credulity and blanket distrust both increase their susceptibility to conspiracy theories.
The interdisciplinary SETA project, carried out in collaboration with the Weizenbaum Institute, is part of the DFG Priority Program 2573, “Rethinking Disinformation (Re:DIS).” The project examines whether and how the state should protect the epistemic trust of 13- to 17-year-olds without infringing on freedom of expression and information. While German youth media protection laws currently provide safeguards against fear, trauma, and socio-ethical disorientation, they do not address epistemic impairment. SETA aims to explore ways to close this conceptual and legal gap.
To this end, the project will develop a legal-normative framework for the state’s duty to protect. This framework will be based on the Basic Law, the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The framework will define the potential scope and limits of the state’s responsibility to ensure epistemic trust among minors. As part of a qualitative, empirical study using focus groups, the research will examine how adolescents build and erode trust in the context of disinformation. A comprehensive review of the results will be conducted to systematically evaluate potential (counter)measures from two perspectives: their benefits and the risks of abuse and infringement with regard to the fundamental rights of minors and other citizens.
At the same time, the project is sharing its findings with policymakers, civil society, and young people. Expected outcomes include a viable model of government obligations to ensure epistemic trust among young people, robust empirical findings on the dynamics of epistemic trust among this group, and policy recommendations consistent with fundamental rights that are resistant to abuse.
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