As Harry raged, a storm of misinformation spread online
People are sharing without verifying, and social media algorithms are exploiting that
Our newsroom is used to a spike in messages when severe weather strikes.
During Monday and Tuesday's gale-force winds, we were sent videos and pictures purporting to show the damage wreaked across the islands. One clip showed a Gozo Channel ferry battling ferocious seas. Another showed a wedding hall under water. Pictures showed uprooted trees. There was one thing in common – none of them were relevant to the day and one of the clips was over a decade old.
The fact that many people shared these videos without verifying` is yet another clear indication of how our instinct to share often overrides our responsibility to check. In today’s digital ecosystem, that instinct is increasingly being exploited.
We are entering a period where identifying what’s real and what’s not will become harder. If 2024 and 2025 were years of concern, 2026 risks becoming the year social media truly becomes a dangerous space, as artificial intelligence reshapes online content.
A study published last October found that more than 40 per cent of long-form posts on Facebook were likely machine-generated, often indistinguishable from human writing and frequently carrying misinformation risks.
At the same time, roughly 80 per cent of content recommendations on major social media platforms already rely on AI systems. These systems are designed to maximise engagement, not accuracy. Meta’s chief executive has publicly stated his ambition to move towards fully AI-generated advertising by the end of 2026, where entire campaigns – that means text, images and video – can be produced from a single product photo.
While this may boost efficiency and profits, it also opens the floodgates to abuse. The same tools that generate adverts can generate fake news, deepfake videos and highly targeted scams.
Law enforcement agencies are sounding the alarm. Europol has warned that as much as 90 per cent of online content could be synthetically generated by 2026. Synthetic media, that means content generated or manipulated using AI, blurs the line between reality and fiction in ways never before experienced. Deepfake videos can convincingly depict people saying or doing things they never did.
It was therefore encouraging to hear Prime Minister Robert Abela confirm that the government is drafting a national media literacy strategy, aimed at raising awareness about how people consume information and news. Equally welcome is the commitment to introduce specific legislation to penalise the malicious use of deepfakes and other AI-driven tools designed to deceive.
There is also a clear generational dimension to this challenge. Younger users, particularly Gen Z, tend to be more aware of deepfake technology and algorithmic manipulation. Middle-aged and elderly users, many of whom adopted social media later in life, are often more vulnerable to deceptive content and scams.
The government must therefore embark on a widespread, sustained information campaign, making use of traditional media as well as digital platforms.
There is a real sense of urgency to all of this. Around the world, online disinformation has fuelled real-world violence, conflict and even killings. We’ve reached such desperate times that US President Donald Trump and X’s Elon Musk regularly share false or misleading claims sourced from misinformed far-right websites. Closer to home, partisan media outlets continue to circulate outright falsehoods on social media, poisoning public debate and undermining trust.
We live in a chaotic information environment where our social media news feeds algorithmic mirrors, reflecting our fears, prejudices and preferences, whether they are grounded in fact or fiction.
Ultimately, responsibility does not rest with governments and platforms alone. Each one of us has a duty to question everything we see, pause before sharing and analyse the source. And to call out lies and dangerous misinformation when we encounter them.