The role of media literacy in shaping campus student leaders’ perceptions of media activism, online risks, and social support

in social movements. Within contemporary contexts, media is an important site through which campus student leaders raise awareness, share relevant information, distribute online petitions, and shape public discourses on various social issues. Media literacy is an essential skill for student leaders to be effective in their activist initiatives and be able to cope with the inevitable pushback through trolling and cyberbullying that such activism would likely bring up. This survey (N = 855) with college student leaders across three universities explores how they rate themselves on media literacy skills, how well they understand the risks involved with media activism, and what types of community support they see as having to cope with such risks. Specifically, we used the identity, skills, risks and opportunity framework of the EU Online Kids model to examine how participants’ social identities (such as political orientation, race, social class, and gender) and self-reported perceptions of media literacy shaped their perceptions of online risk, likelihood to engage in media activism, and social support-seeking behaviors. Findings suggest a central role played by perceived media literacy skills in influencing likelihood to engage in media activism and social support seeking during negative online experiences. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.