Digital Information Literacy in Arab Universities: Combating Misinformation in the Age of AI
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59675/S415Keywords:
Digital Information Literacy; Artificial Intelligence; Misinformation; Arab Universities; Higher Education; AI LiteracyAbstract
The proliferation of digital misinformation has evolved into an asymmetric challenge across Arab majority nations, a reality deeply compounded by the recent breakthroughs in generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). in countries with an Arab majority. Despite the efforts made in the Arab region in achieving higher education infrastructure investment, the curricula development of digital information literacy (DIL) across the Arab region is still uneven, not well-institutionalized and not well-integrated with AI related skills. The article discusses the status of digital information literacy (DIL) in the Arab universities, the special features of Arab universities and the sociolinguistic and structural factors that make students more vulnerable to misinformation and proposes a culturally responsive and AI-aware strategy for integrating DIL into undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The paper is based on a literature review of existing regional empirical studies, existing UNESCO models and new studies in AI-related literacy, and it concludes that Arab universities must change their library instruction model from ad hoc model to a systemic model in the curriculum. The main recommendations are as follows: establishment of AI-based Arabic language Fact-Checking tools, preparation of DIL modules based on various disciplines, training of teachers, and cooperation with the relevant regulatory authorities in the area. The article joins a growing body of scholarship which argues for context-based responses to the crisis of misinformation in the digital world. The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has given rise to many discussions about the significance of AI in higher education and the development of AI literacy.
References
1. Abou Zahr, M. (2026). Youth Empowerment in the GCC: A Case Study of the UAE (2015–2025). Contemporary Arab Affairs, 19(2), 263-290.
2. Association of College, Research Libraries, & American Library Association. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. ACRL.
3. Bawden, D., & Robinson, L. (2009). The dark side of information: overload, anxiety and other paradoxes and pathologies. Journal of information science, 35(2), 180-191.
4. Bhattarai, K., & Yousef, M. (2025). Education challenges and opportunities. The Middle East: Past, Present, and Future, 255-266.
5. Board, A. C. R. L. (2016). Framework for information literacy for higher education.
6. Eshet, Y. (2004). Digital literacy: A conceptual framework for survival skills in the digital era. Journal of educational multimedia and hypermedia, 13(1), 93-106.
7. Floridi, L., Cowls, J., King, T. C., & Taddeo, M. (2021). How to design AI for social good: Seven essential factors. In Ethics, governance, and policies in artificial intelligence (pp. 125-151). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
8. Goldstein, J. A., Sastry, G., Musser, M., DiResta, R., Gentzel, M., & Sedova, K. (2023). Generative language models and automated influence operations: Emerging threats and potential mitigations. arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.04246, 1.
9. Guo, B., Zhang, X., Wang, Z., Jiang, M., Nie, J., Ding, Y., ... & Wu, Y. (2023). How close is chatgpt to human experts? comparison corpus, evaluation, and detection. arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.07597.
10. Freedom House (2023). Freedom on the Net. The repressive power of artificial intelligence.
11. Ji, Z., Lee, N., Frieske, R., Yu, T., Su, D., Xu, Y., ... & Fung, P. (2023). Survey of hallucination in natural language generation. ACM computing surveys, 55(12), 1-38.
12. Khan, Z. I., & Sohail, M. (2025). Information Literacy Instructions in Higher Education Institutions: Enhancing Academic Success and Research Competencies among University Students in the United Arab Emirates. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, 45(5), 477-487.
13. Kirad, S. H. (2025). The role of digital platforms integrated with artificial intelligence technologies in detecting fake news “Misbar” platform as a model. Revue Des Sciences Humaines, 36(3), 325-336.
14. Long, D., & Magerko, B. (2020, April). What is AI literacy? Competencies and design considerations. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-16).
15. Moussa, M. B., & Douai, A. (2014). The digital transformation of Arab news: Is there a future for online news after the ‘Arab Spring’? Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, 3(2), 133-154.
16. Newman, N., Ross Arguedas, A., Robertson, C. T., Nielsen, R. K., & Fletcher, R. (2025). Digital news report 2025. Reuters Institute for the study of Journalism.
17. Rahman, W. S. A. “Analysis of the mechanisms of using artificial intelligence to manipulate social media content and mislead public opinion in the Middle East.
18. Ramaiah, C. K., & Rao, M. S. (2021). Media and information literacy: A bibliography. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, 41(4), 316-336.
19. Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policymaking (Vol. 27, pp. 1-107). Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
20. Wineburg, S., & McGrew, S. (2019). Lateral reading and the nature of expertise: Reading less and learning more when evaluating digital information. Teachers College Record, 121(11), 1-40.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Academic International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
