Ofcom – Fact Check Your Feed
Helping young people in Wales vote on facts, not misinformation
Client
Ofcom
Sector
– Media Literacy
– Democracy
Partners
Parent Zone; VoiceBox; Scottish Youth Parliament; Young Scot; and FactCheckNI
Services
– Digital Youth Work
– Media
– Co-production
The 2026 Senedd election is the first in which 16 and 17-year-olds across Wales can vote and for many, their social media feeds will be their main source of information about it. Research consistently shows that young people encounter political content online in fast-paced, algorithmically curated environments, with many lacking confidence in assessing what they see. Misinformation spreads in seconds, and elections are its favourite season.
In partnership with Parent Zone, ProMo is delivering the Wales strand of Informed Voices, Ofcom’s UK-wide programme to build young people’s resilience to mis and dis information around elections. Our role is to make sure the campaign speaks authentically to young people in Wales
That meant starting with young people themselves. Before a single piece of content was produced, ProMo ran co-design sessions where young people told us which Welsh influencers they trusted, what content formats they’d actually watch, and what their peers would and wouldn’t believe. This shaped the design of the videos, the interactive quiz, the social posts, and a four-week bilingual content calendar on TheSprout and across social media.
What was the problem?
Young people in Wales, many of whom are voting for the first time, are making decisions about who to vote for in an information environment that nobody designed to be trustworthy.
Young people in Wales are more likely than any previous generation to form their political views through social media. But the same platforms that inform also distort, amplifying the loud, the sensational and the false. Algorithms reward engagement, not accuracy.
At the same time, traditional media content on social media platforms can often fail to reach Welsh audiences. Content produced in London for a UK-wide audience rarely distinguishes between devolved and reserved issues leaving young voters confused about what the Senedd actually controls, and what it can actually change for their lives.
Our approach
Rather than importing a generic national campaign, we’ve built something rooted in Wales. Working with young Welsh content creators, we’ve co-designed videos, quizzes and resources that speak to Welsh audiences in both English and Welsh referencing the specific context of the Senedd election, not elections in the abstract.
Rather than creating a general campaign about elections, we wanted the campaign to feel firmly rooted in Wales. So we spoke to over one-hundred Welsh young people to understand their needs and to get the feedback on the campaign, and worked with local social media creators in Wales to create the content they wanted to see.
Discovery and research
We started by holding consultation sessions in Cardiff and online with young people from across Wales to understand how young people use social media and get their information.
We found:
- Young people were over sceptical: They were so used to seeing misleading information, they often flagged real photos as fake. We realised we needed to teach them how to verify the truth, not just how to spot false information
- They didn’t want lectures: If the content felt like a teacher was explaining it to them, they scrolled past. So, content had to be created in a relatable way
Campaign creation
To help young people navigate their feeds, we wanted to encourage a method called Habit Stacking – the idea of adding a small, helpful step to a digital habit young people already have (like scrolling TikTok).
We partnered with trusted Welsh creators including Molly Fenton (Love Your Period), Lucy Palmer and Molly Brown (TheSprout), Gwion Rhisiart, and Maddy Dhesi (Senedd Explained). Because they already have a young Welsh following, the campaign felt more like a tip from a friend than a lesson from a teacher.
Campaign delivery
The bilingual ‘Fact Check Your Feed / Gwirio Dy Ffrwd’ campaign is running across TheSprout’s website, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram throughout April and up to polling day on 7 May.
It includes:
It covers:
- How to spot misinformation and disinformation
- How algorithms shape what you see
- Persuasive design and why you can’t stop scrolling
- Key things Welsh young people need to know before the Senedd elections
- AI imagery and deepfakes
- Echo chambers and how to break out of them
All content is hosted at TheSprout.co.uk, ProMo’s trusted national platform for young people in Wales, giving the campaign a Welsh home and ensuring it remains accessible beyond the election itself.
Alongside the youth-facing content, we’re also supporting professionals – youth workers, teachers and family-facing staff with resources to have better conversations about media literacy at home and in their settings. Organisations were offered free media literacy training by our partners Parent Zone as part of the Informed Voices project, with each participant gaining a free licence to their Everyday Digital media literacy programme.
We have started to gather feedback about the campaign with youth groups, with further sessions and an online survey planned. This will help inform the next stage of the project.
Part of something bigger
This project is the start of a longer programme. Informed Voices runs through to the next UK general election in 2029. The aim is to deliver solutions that enable young people to engage critically with democracy.
If you’d like to find out more about this work, or how you can help us reach more young people in Wales, get in touch at arielle@promo.cymru
