on the dangers of mis- and disinformation. The following are some examples: • Meedan works through the Nawa Media project to train students from Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine in verifying and monitoring media.42 The students trace and evaluate media outlets in these countries, their editorial policies, and their affiliations by using the open-source “Check” tool that helps organize the data. The students also work with the Samir Kassir Foundation on a study about the performance of media outlets in these countries during the Covid-19 pandemic.43 The project provides an open platform for media assessment in these countries to help the public understand information disorder in the region and what the sources of disinformation are. • In Lebanon, the UNDP cooperated with the Dawaer Association in 2020 to launch a youth initiative, entitled “Truthful News Keeps You Healthy (‫)ربخلا ةحص نم كتحص‬, to track fake news in ten Lebanese regions.44 The young people who were trained published a fake news and social stability guide in 2021 (UNDP Lebanon 2021). • In 2021, the UNDP in Morocco announced a partnership with the Tahaqaq platform in the form of the Healthy Internet Project, which aims to increase citizens’ awareness of the need to verify information before circulating it (UNDP 2021). • In Lebanon, UNICEF launched U-Report, a platform created to allow for the communal participation of young people, which has worked since the beginning of 2021 to refute rumors about Covid-19 vaccines. It has done so by raising awareness on social media sites and by sending accurate information about vaccines to citizens over Messenger or WhatsApp.45 • UNESCO has funded workshops on fact checking news and combating rumors at Birzeit University and Al-Quds Open University in Palestine during 2020.46 • In 2020, UNESCO and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation published a journalism training guide in Arabic about journalism and disinformation (Ireton and Posetti 2020). All the above collaborations emerged with the spread of Covid-19 in the region, and have focused particularly on enhancing local organizations’ responses to the spike in mis- and disinformation in the unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic. These collaborations are critical in terms of sharing experience and expertise, and in assisting local I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH organizations to make greater efforts in the face of a lack of funding and a lack of governmental efforts. In the final section of this general overview, we close with some recommendations for actions that can be taken to build on the work that is already being done in the region to combat information disorder. 11. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The focus of the entities concerned with confronting information disorder in the Arab world is, as we have seen, on fact checking, and all other responses form part of that project. There is a great need to develop and pay more attention to such responses in a region that is severely affected by political and economic crises. These conditions generate the need for a stronger confrontation of information disorder, as the latter usually has devastating effects on the members of societies, their thoughts, and their decisions. To summarize, the most important findings of this study include the following: 1. The importance of fact checking is growing, but fact-checking organizations, platforms, and initiatives in the region face enormous challenges and obstacles. There is a significant need to develop their methodologies and skills, and a need for more funding to enable them to contribute more in the fight against mis- and disinformation. 2. The region is not very advanced in media literacy. This is despite the importance of media and information literacy, the many promising initiatives and developments in the field, and the many recommendations that national policies be set to promote media literacy and that it be incorporated into curricula at both school and tertiary level. 3. Combating mis- and disinformation is not a priority for many Arab governments. However, the Covid-19 pandemic prompted the majority of Arab governments to launch awareness-raising campaigns about the spread of misinformation related to health issues and to promote accurate information about the virus and about vaccines. 4. In most Arab countries that tend to suppress freedom of expression and the press, legislation criminalizing the publication of fake and misleading information has been used to suppress freedom of expression, silence government critics, and tighten access to information. Middle East and North Africa – 59