While The Fire Burns, Dancing Around Disinformation Continues

Michael Hedges December 9, 2020 - Follow on Twitter

It isn’t called fake news anymore. That term was appropriated by its greatest purveyors. It can’t be halted by laws or even appeals to common sense. It can’t be taxed; who gets the bill? Disinformation continues to rage setting extremists on fire.

Warning labels should be slapped on social media content for “something that is really not true,” said Dutch Internal Affairs Minister Kajsa Ollongren to public broadcaster NOS (December 6). With parliamentary elections in the Netherlands on the horizon, she warned of “the American situation,” voting disinformation that surrounded recent US elections. In recent months she has complained of disinformation about the coronavirus, the 5G mobile network and the Russian shooting down of MH17. An independent committee should be convened to monitor the internet, she said, but it should not be a “Ministry of Truth.”

Therein lies the conundrum; legal, political and social. Laws, generally, protect free speech, including that which flies through the internet. Political will to simply stomp out disinformation is just not there, too many office holders benefit. Disinformation is quite popular; life in the 21st Century is complicated and folks are drawn to simplicity even if false. The belief, formerly accepted, that people will act responsibly has been proven demonstrably false.

The European Commission (EC) unveiled last week (December 2) its European Democracy Action Plan (EDAP). There are several goals, drafted by Member consensus, to “prevent harm” from “online fake news” and election manipulation. Strengthening media freedom, largely via public broadcasting, is one preferred path. Clamping down on social media platforms is another.

For “protecting free and fair elections,” the EDAP seeks “greater transparence” in “political advertising.” Election infrastructure needs strengthening, eyes toward cyber-attacks. Election participation rates are a continuing challenge.

On the news and press freedom side, journalist safety is prominently noted, without detail. Those awful SLAPP lawsuits used to push reporting and criticism into the fringes could become an EC target. “Sustainable funding for… legal and practical assistance to journalists” needs consent of the Member States. EU policy makers remain obsessed, rightly, with media ownership transparency.

Countering disinformation is the third goal, combined with foreign interference. It is possible that sanctions - “imposing costs on perpetrators” - could be imposed. Specific measures directed toward “online platforms” are left to the Digital Services Act, sometime next year.

“Our values need to be protected online, as well as offline,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen at a meeting of EU ministers, quoted by Reuters (November 10). “Take illegal hate speech and terrorist propaganda. In recent weeks we have seen once again how urgent this is.”

Social media and video sharing portals have long sought cover behind giving exposure to “different views.” Nobody is buying this anymore. More traditional media outlets trafficking in disinformation don’t bother. It’s just business.

For all the obvious reasons, online and social media are easy targets for lawmakers. They live elsewhere and speak a different language, metaphorically. And they make a lot of money. Traditional media, protestations to the contrary, also make a lot of money, though on aggregate less than a decade ago. Their elite role tending policy matters has not abated.

Online and social media platforms have come under all the aforementioned pressures. Those ad boycotts may have been short-lived but they attracted attention. “They’ve had to massively tighten up their policies and their enforcement mechanisms,” noted Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) senior analyst Milo Comerford, quoted by the UK Press Association (November 25). “It’s not going to be enough to just take down content. Hopefully we will see more movement around addressing the more systemic issues rather than just taking down individual bits of harmful content which won’t ever solve this problem, ultimately.”

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