Anyone can express themselves and give their opinion on subjects or facts on the internet. However, there is a huge amount of information online and not all of it is reliable. The most important thing for young people is to learn to be critical and to think twice. Children often assume that everything on the internet is true, so they have to be taught to check their sources.

So how do you check if the information online is correct and true?  

• Cross-check sources: check the information you find by looking at other websites on the same subject.
• Examine the author and the aims of the website: is the author a well-known figure in their field? Is it a personal page, and therefore a personal opinion? What are the website's objectives? You can find out in the ‘About us’ tab, or by going to the homepage and looking at the various sections and visiting a few pages.
• Check the date of publication: check if the information is up to date by looking at the date the website was updated, or by checking the validity of the links provided.
• Be critical: encourage your children to question you if they have any questions.
• Diversify your communication channels: internet research should not exclude other sources of information. A local library may have encyclopaedias or books that will provide a satisfactory answer to a question and will supplement a search on the internet (unless it's the other way round).

How do you help children to look for correct information?

• Make links with the ‘real life’: what are the chances of someone approaching you in the street to tell you that you've won an smartphone? Zero, in fact. So it's the same for the internet. You mustn't believe that everything on the internet is true.
• Teach them how to refine their searches (example: several words and symbols).
• Explain the concept of copyright and plagiarism

Find more information about the work of the Belgian Safer Internet Centre, including its awareness raising, helpline, hotline, and youth participation services, or find similar information for other Safer Internet Centres throughout Europe.