At the start of the school year, Inserm released a free teaching kit called “Fake news en santé”, aimed at teachers of pupils from the equivalent of Year 9 up to the final year of secondary school. The goal is to help young people assess the health information they come across on social media, in videos, in online searches and in artificial intelligence tools.
The module can be taught in one or two class hours and includes a full facilitation guide. In the longer version, pupils work in groups to fact-check health claims inspired by content circulating on social media.
Rather than lists of “good” and “bad” sources, the kit teaches the scientific method: forming hypotheses, weighing the strength of evidence and distinguishing an isolated study from converging results. The golden rule is to slow down, check and only then decide.
The initiative builds on the experience of Canal Détox, created by Inserm in 2018, which in 2025 published 24 articles and recorded 1.1 million visits. The kit can be downloaded from pro.inserm.fr.
