The ‘EU democracy shield’ is a fascinating initiative that is due for adoption in the third quarter of this year. While the details are still being debated, the aspiration is to deploy actions to actively preserve the integrity of the online information space. That could mean several things, from more fact-checking to outright censorship. Presumably with a big dollop of AI. It might also mean more serious consequences for the culprits, so that there is a stronger deterrent.
One thing is clear, foreign interference has been menacing vulnerable member states such as Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland. Unfortunately, publicly owned media outlets such as the BBC are fading fast – and are actively targeted to undermine their long-earned credibility. However, disinformation can also be ‘home grown’…there is no shortage of fakery. To quote a rep from the EU disinformation lab, “People accept small lies but not big ones. Conversely, therefore, the bigger the lie the better it tends to land”.
Summarised search is not helping. Just consider the AI summary that Google now provides in search results. Before now, search results were a library of choices that humans could reference. But with AI search summaries there is no appreciation of source.
The natural evolution of misinformation may lead to a total mistrust of media and a fallback to more offline methods, such as person to person meetings. It got us thinking that perhaps the way to tackle misinformation is to use the ‘weed killer’ approach. In other words, actively contribute to accelerating the growth of misinformation to the point that there is saturation which leads to a sharp rise in critical thinking skills. Trouble is, it completely destroys the flow of genuine information too.
When you look deeply at what gains traction online, one takeaway for consultation and engagement professionals is that we must be more responsive and empathetic with people. Humans are not rational; we are driven by emotion. Emotions and feelings are well exercised in the world of disinformation but less-so in government communications.
Yet something more fundamental screamed out to us in terms of learned behaviour and needs during a visit to the annual ECAS day in Brussels on 24th June. These are: –
- People must not stay silent, they must know and exercise their rights
- People must be educated, democracy starts at school
- People need to nurture democracy, and they need to know why it matters
- Democracy does not stand still; it is evolving and evolutionary by nature
As democracy underpins the work we do, what part of the shield are you helping to build?