The fight against disinformation should be a matter of utmost urgency

EESC info: You are the rapporteur for the opinion adopted by the EESC at its December 2021 session on European Commission Guidance on Strengthening the Code of Practice on Disinformation. How much of a threat is disinformation to democracy and what should civil society do, and what tools should it use, to prevent the propagation of fake news?

Thierry Libaert: Disinformation is a threat to democracies because it can weaken the trust we have in public institutions or science. Between a complicated truth and information that is false but can be understood immediately, we often prefer the false information. Disinformation is more than just a matter of gullibility, it is sometimes used for geopolitical or destabilising purposes, particularly during elections.

The key objective of the opinion adopted on 9 December 2021 is to call on the European Commission to take stronger action to prevent disinformation from emerging, not just to reduce the consequences. We can always try to limit the damage of a fire, but it is better to prevent the flames appearing in the first place.

There are many ways to combat disinformation. One is to attack the monetisation of it. Our working group saw that disinformation is a real business. Because false information spreads on average six times faster than true information and generates more comments and shares, it generates more activity for an internet platform. This makes it more likely to receive advertisement revenue. It was estimated that over EUR 400 million are wasted in this way each year.  

We must avoid thinking that disinformation is only a matter for social networks and large digital platforms. Traditional media also have a responsibility, particularly TV news stations that keep giving an audience to a series of pseudo-experts. Media must be more vigilant about the true quality of their guests, and there needs to be greater media literacy so that the public can better analyse the information they receive.

The fight against disinformation must in no way serve as a pretext to attack freedom of expression. The media literacy we recommend mainly aims to allow everyone to really tell the difference between a scientific fact and a simple belief or opinion. Donald Trump's partisans in the USA, like populists in Europe – particularly those who were the origin of Brexit in the UK – have illustrated very well the danger propagation of false information poses to our democracies.

The fight against disinformation should be a matter of utmost urgency – this is the message our Committee hoped to send.