The article examines media literacy in the age of algorithmic content distribution through a comparative analysis of European and US institutional responses. Its aim is to identify structural differences between the EU Paternalistic-Rights Model and the US Libertarian-Market Model, assess their internal coherence, and reconsider the concept of media literacy in the context of algorithmic and generative conditions. The study’s relevance stems from the erosion of source stability, provenance, and user agency in platform-mediated environments. Its novelty lies in combining comparative typology with the concept of infrastructural literacy, defined as users’ depth of engagement with algorithmic mediation. The article concludes that both regimes form self-reinforcing configurations shaped by regulatory, educational, normative, and platform-related dimensions. The EU model supports rights-based compliance and curricular integration, while the US model relies on civil society, markets, and dispersed educational initiatives. Both approaches retain blind spots in cross-platform circulation, generative AI, and citizen-infrastructure asymmetry. The article will be useful to media scholars, policy researchers, educators, regulators, and communication management specialists.