With the advent of social media and technology, it has become a must for everyone including older generations to go digital. However, research has shown that senior citizens have become more vulnerable to online misinformation and disinformation. They also have the tendency to easily share fake content in social media, and are at risk of being misinformed and later sharing misleading news.

To tackle such issues, the ASEAN Foundation has implemented the ASEAN Digital Literacy Programme (ASEAN DLP), a regional initiative that aims to combat misinformation and disinformation in ASEAN. With support from Google.org, the ASEAN Foundation will lead the implementation of the two-year programme, equipping more than 1,000 trainers across the ten ASEAN countries with digital literacy skills that they need to train over 100,000 beneficiaries in their communities.

One of the key elements of the programme is ASEAN Youth Advisory Group (ASEAN YAG), a cohort of 20 youths from ten ASEAN countries who will roll out awareness campaigns about the importance of media and information literacy to combat hoax and misleading information. The ASEAN YAG plays a crucial role in inspiring people in their communities to become the agents of change that can help detect and prevent hoax and misleading news from spreading.

In Malaysia, an awareness raising campaign called “Golden Digital Class” will be rolled out by two members of ASEAN YAG, Dr. Miko Chang and Ryan Chua.

The campaign, which runs from February to April 2023, will mainly target senior citizens and involve several key activities such as research and survey, module development, and awareness and outreach – including workshops using a Digital Literacy Toolkit for senior citizens to raise digital literacy levels for the golden class, and a microsite to host and share such materials for the benefit of everyone.

As part of the “Golden Digital Class” launch, Malaysians aged 60 and above are urged to participate in a survey to better understand digital literacy levels, which they can do so via this link https://tinyurl.com/ASEANDLPMY or the QR code below. The survey will help the foundation to set a baseline in the module development and workshop for senior citizens in Malaysia.

For more information, please contact the AYAG members from Malaysia: Dr. Miko Chang at mchang@swinburne.edu.my or Ryan Chua at ryanchua94@gmail.com