The UK, along with other countries across the globe, is at a tipping point. Information integrity isn’t just a digital problem anymore — it’s a matter of national resilience, and democratic norms hang in the balance.
We’ve seen the damage disinformation can do, and we’ve seen it play out again and again: in global health crises, in the climate debate, in conflict and violent extremism, in conspiracy theories spreading unchecked online. Each time, the same corrosive effect — social cohesion frays, trust erodes, democracy weakens. The World Economic Forum doesn’t bury this concern; misinformation and disinformation routinely top its list of global risks. Media and information literacy is one of our sharpest tools against this.
But framing this only as a defence misses half the picture. We live in a world constantly being remade by data, knowledge and information. The case for equipping everyone — not just the digitally savvy — with the skills to find, question, use, share and create information ethically has never been stronger. People need to understand not just what information says, but where it comes from and how it’s shaped. That understanding isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s what allows people to form genuine views of the world and take part, fully and confidently, in their communities and in society at large.
Every country tackles this differently, shaped by its own culture, politics and resources. The UK has, to its credit, started paying attention: the 2021 Online Media Literacy Strategy, the Online Safety Act 2023 followed by Ofcom’s own 2024 three-year Media Literacy Strategy, the 2025 House of Lords Media Literacy Report, the UK government’s 2026 Media Literacy Action Plan, and a pledge to fold media and digital literacy into the National Curriculum for schools in England by 2028. All encouraging. None of it enough.
What’s still missing is a properly funded national effort matching the scale of the problem. Five years ago, the Online Media Literacy Strategy flagged a fragmented landscape — brilliant but small-scale initiatives from civil society and the third sector, working in isolation, starved of funding. Five years on, that fragmentation hasn’t gone anywhere. Media and information literacy needs to be understood not merely as protection against harm, but as something that actively empowers people — to think for themselves, speak up, and engage fully in democratic life.
No single organisation can fix this alone. That’s the premise MILA — the Media and Information Literacy Alliance — is built on. Rather than working directly with the public, MILA works through the field: bringing together the organisations, groups and individuals already doing this work, pooling their expertise, and giving them a stronger collective voice. It doesn’t compete with existing efforts — it connects them. As enabler, facilitator and advocate, MILA exists to turn scattered good work into a coherent national push, and to make sure that policy and practice are shaped by the credibility of that pooled expertise. More about MILA here.
Definitions
According to UNESCO, media and information literacy (MIL) provides answers to questions that we all might ask ourselves at some point. How can we access, search, critically assess, use and contribute content wisely, both online and offline? What are our rights online and offline? What are the ethical issues surrounding the access and use of information? How can we engage with media and ICTs to promote equality, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, peace, freedom of expression and access to information?
MIL is made up of two largely overlapping concepts: media literacy and information literacy. There is an abundance of definitions for these two concepts, reflecting the range of approaches and emphases from the many players with an interest in this area. We propose the following descriptions, which are both credible and current:
Media literacy is defined succinctly by Ofcom, in its Media Literacy Strategy, as the ability to use, understand and create media and communications across multiple formats and services
Information literacy is explained in the 2018 definition by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), which states that information literacy is an empowering ability to think critically and make balanced judgements about any information that people find and use. The definition relates information literacy to five broad lifelong contexts: education, citizenship, the workplace, health and everyday life.