Weaponized Information: How Disinformation Is Undermining Democracy Worldwide

Among the many ways in which the digital era has reshaped every aspect of our world, it fostered an information revolution that allowed everyone to enter the global political sphere just with one simple click from their comfortable couch. However, while the – almost – universal ability to have a share of this power at the beginning of the 21st century had been considered to empower the international society and foster democracy and globalization worldwide, recent events have demonstrated how this “spirit of informationalism” – as described by Castells – has, indeed, eroded people’s trust in the truth, facts, democracy, international institutions, and in their epistemic autonomy. Hence, manipulating public opinion through social media has emerged as a profound threat to national and global stability, as highlighted by the proliferation of political gaslighting. This phenomenon, employed by numerous political leaders worldwide to consolidate power, influence elections, and weaken democratic norms, involves the deliberate distortion of facts and the spread of disinformation to create confusion, undermine trust in institutions, and manipulate public perception. And even worse, in many cases these strategies escalated to a real outbreak of violence, as happened in the far-right riots that are currently breaking out in the U.K. due to speculations spread on social media after the fatal stabbing of three kids in Southport. Since political gaslighting and disinformation campaigns through social media have gained notoriety only recently, governmental attempts to counteract this have fallen short, underestimating its gravity and relying on ex-post responses like media literacy initiatives, resulting in ineffective and fragmented and failing to address the root causes of the issue.

Many actors have been involved in trying to counteract the spread of disinformation on social media, as highlighted by the study requested by the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights, “The impact of disinformation on democratic processes and human rights in the world”, in which the authors distinguish three groups of actors responsible for responding to this issue, namely the private sector (digital platforms), legislative and regulatory bodies, and civil society. The reliance on voluntary measures implemented by social media companies to regulate false content dissemination has proven inadequate to curb this enduring phenomenon. Indeed, although platforms like Facebook and Twitter have introduced some fact-checking mechanisms and content moderation policies, these measures are often applied inconsistently and are not legally binding. Additionally, the business models of these platforms, which prioritize user engagement and ad revenue, further exacerbate the problem by incentivizing the spread of sensational and misleading content fueled by echo chambers. Regarding legislative and regulatory bodies, the E.U., for instance, has implemented several mechanisms to counteract online disinformation, such as the Rapid Alert System and the Digital Services Act, which are aimed at identifying and removing false content spread on social media. However, these measures, although show the recent commitment of the E.U. in ensuring liable and fact-checked information spreading, are undermined by the varying approaches and regulations across member states and lack both cohesion with other global stakeholders and a pre-emptive approach aimed at avoiding the share of these fake news. Moreover, also several media literacy initiatives promoted worldwide, such as U.N.E.S.C.O. Global Media and Information Literacy Week, have proven quite ineffective, due to the lack of civil society’s interest and the abstractness of their content. Additionally, it needs to be noted that the majority of these initiatives promoted by global or supranational authorities are generally aimed at combating disinformation campaigns fostered by foreign non-democratic actors, such as Russia, as highlighted by the G7’s Rapid Response Mechanism (R.P.M.) that aims to coordinate responses to evolving threats to democratic societies. A pivotal example of the ineffectiveness of these measures was witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which, despite the U.N. “Verified” campaign, false information about the virus and vaccines spread rapidly on social media, contributing to vaccine hesitancy and prolonging the global health crisis.

To effectively combat the growing threat of political gaslighting and digital disinformation, a new approach is needed – one that addresses the core issues and limitations of the current response. First of all, due to the rapid spread of information online, it is pivotal that competent authorities are allowed to avoid fake news being shared in the first place so that they cannot experience a dangerous escalation fueled by false speculations and conspiracy theories, as happened in 2016 in the pizzeria shooting in Washington DC. To do so and to adopt a much faster response that would be effective in controlling these counternarratives, it is necessary to implement a pre-emptive mechanism that checks the factuality of the information that is going to be shared before being posted. Hence, the core issue regarding the countermeasures of digital disinformation would be solved by transforming the current ex-post mechanisms that fact-check online posts in ex-ante measures. This could be achieved either by establishing a waiting time before anyone could share any post, so that competent authorities could verify its truthfulness, or by flagging any post according to a “fact-checking scale” so that any user could easily and immediately see whether what they are reading contains ‘verified’, ‘unverified’ or ‘false’ information. Although it may seem an unproblematic solution, it does rely on four key pillars, namely global cooperation, ethical regulation, public empowerment, and technological innovation. Firstly, greater cohesion among global stakeholders and international cooperation is needed to bridge the gaps in current fragmented responses and to create a unified global framework that standardizes the approach to disinformation across different regions and countries. Indeed, International organizations such as the United Nations, the G7, and the European Union should lead efforts to establish comprehensive global strategies, including clear guidelines for member states, standardized regulations for social media platforms, and mechanisms for sharing intelligence and best practices. Secondly, social media platforms should be required to move beyond voluntary content moderation practices toward legally binding regulations to implement robust fact-checking processes, transparency in their algorithms, and accountability measures for disinformation. Additionally, these regulations should include provisions for ethical considerations, balancing the right to free speech with the need to prevent any harm that may be caused by disinformation. Thirdly, another pivotal element consists in empowering the public with the tools and knowledge to critically assess the information they encounter. Hence, media literacy programs should be integrated into educational curricula worldwide, as experienced in Finland’s national education curriculum, to teach individuals how to identify disinformation, understand the motivations behind political gaslighting, and critically evaluate information sources. Finally, it is pivotal to leverage technology, as artificial intelligence and machine learning can detect and flag disinformation in real-time and can be employed to develop innovative solutions for monitoring and countering disinformation campaigns. These technological advancements fostered by a strong collaboration between governments, international institutions, and the private sector can provide a powerful solution that would significantly reduce the impact and spread of online disinformation.

In conclusion, the digital era, while offering unprecedented access to information and the ability to participate in global political discourse, has also introduced significant challenges to democracy and international stability. Although political gaslighting and online disinformation have emerged as dangerous threats for undermining trust in institutions, distorting public perception, and inciting real-world violence, current reactive and fragmented responses to these threats are insufficient. Only through a concerted effort to implement proactive and standardized global strategies achieved through strict cooperation between the several international actors involved a viable solution could be established. Indeed, by fostering global cooperation and empowering citizens with critical thinking and media literacy skills, we can build a more resilient society capable of withstanding the challenges posed by the digital information revolution.

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