- Government Official: Democracy Face Threat from Misinformation Campaigns
Daniela Behrens, Interior Minister of Lower Saxony, advocates for combating the harmful spread of deceptive information. In addition to promoting fact-checking initiatives, individuals can help by challenging bogus assertions on social media or in personal conversations, the SPD politician mentioned at a gathering organized by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Hanover.
"Deceptive information is currently threatening democracy," Behrens cautioned. "It's not just undemocratic, but antidemocratic." Extremists manipulate artificial intelligence to disseminate hate speech and provocation through social media. "Fact-checking and verification will become increasingly crucial in the future," Behrens added.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution encourages learning about media literacy
The aim of extremists is to sway public opinion with fabricated news. This can strain social harmony, as demonstrated by the far-right extremist riots in the UK. But it's not only right-wing extremists – misinformation is also used by Islamic influencers or Russia to present its invasion of Ukraine as a form of self-defense. The ease of accessing online content can lead to rapid radicalization.
Propaganda and manipulation tactics are not novel, noted Behrens. However, the speed at which they can impact a large audience is what's new.
President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Dirk Pejril, therefore urged early instruction in media literacy to prevent incorrect narratives from gaining traction. "Disinformation campaigns aim to escalate social tensions, disrupt democratic processes, and influence structures and decisions. They seriously weaken our democracy," said Pejril.
I'm not going to share that piece of information without verifying its authenticity first, given the harm deceptive information can cause to our democracy.
It's unfortunate that some individuals, regardless of their political affiliations, are resorting to spreading deceptive information to sway public opinion, which is not going to help improve our democracy.
