Online disinformation is a complicated and controversial phenomenon that is proving to be a large challenge for governments, private sector bodies, and civil society groups in a variety of different contexts around the globe. Foreign influence operations conducted through online disinformation campaigns have been implemented in various contexts with the intention to create political instability within these targeted nations. This thesis examines the question: What education policy initiatives are being implemented and/or already exist in the United States and Finland in an effort to make themselves more resilient to transnational online disinformation campaigns? Various policy documents that concern education legislation are analyzed through Bacchi’s (2009) ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be?’ approach. Concepts associated with the Securitization theory and Buzan’s (1998) security analysis framework were applied to the content of these documents in order assess whether the reasoning or discourse associated with the introduction of critical media literacy programs was related to counteracting the threat of one foreign disinformation. Results indicated that there were many differences in how and why the United States and Finland implemented media literacy programs. There are indications that the perceived threat of foreign disinformation campaigns is one of the main justifications for the United States and Finland to introduce or improve national media literacy policies. This work allows other researchers to see these differences in approaches and how they relate to the international communities’ efforts toward utilizing media literacy as a security measure against disinformation.

Online disinformation damage on the world’s democracy has been critical. Yet, states fail to handle online content harms. Due to exception from legal liability for hosted content, Facebook, used by a third of the world population, operates ‘duty-free’ along with other social media companies.Concerned with solutions, this has given rise to the idea in studies that social resistance could be one of the most effective ways for combating disinformation. However, how exactly do we resist, is an unsettled subject. Are there any socially-driven processes against disinformation happening out there?This paper aimed to identify such processes for giving a boost to theory-building around the topic. Two central evidence cases were developed: #IAmHere digital movement fighting disinformation and innovative tool ‘Who is Who’ for distinguishing fake accounts. Based on findings, I argue that efforts by even a very small part of society can have a significant impact on defeating online disinformation. This is because digital activism shares phenomenal particularities for shaping online political discourse around disinformation. Tools such as ‘Who is Who’, on the other hand, build social resilience against the issue, also giving boost digital activists for mass reporting of disinformation content. User-driven solutions have significant potential for further research.Keywords: Online disinformation; algorithms; digital activism; user-driven solutions.