Malta is being threatened with an aggressive disinformation campaign, designed to spread doubt and confusion among the public.
Online news pages are being mimicked to fool readers with fabricated content intended to put individuals or a cause in a good/bad light. Names of real-life journalists are being used to ‘sign off’ the fictitious pieces, intended for the reader to look sceptically at journalists.
Much of the content makes outrageous claims concerning the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case and individuals fighting for justice.
This should send jitters among anybody who believes in justice and the right to know the truth.
We cannot let down our guard. A number of individuals have been arraigned, others could face justice, and they have the money, allies and willingness to do whatever it takes to stay out of jail. The perpetrators have struck right at the core of the so-called fourth pillar of democracy in a concerted campaign to muddy the media landscape. In a country where just 51 per cent of people say they trust the media and where large numbers still consume their ‘news’ from political party stations and Facebook feeds, that is a dangerous thing.
False information is dangerous because of its ability to impact public opinion and electoral discourse. According to David Lazer, a renowned professor of political and computer sciences, “such situations can enable discriminatory and inflammatory ideas to enter public discourse and be treated as fact. Once embedded, such ideas can, in turn, be used to create scapegoats, to normalise prejudices, to harden us-versus-them mentalities and even, in extreme cases, to catalyse and justify violence.”
It is almost impossible to eliminate online disinformation and fake news. Several of the world’s most important websites and news organisations have also fallen victim to sophisticated campaigns intended to disseminate false material and, in some cases, even close them down altogether.
But that does not mean there is nothing we can do to lessen its impact.
The internet has been around for a generation but digital literacy remains poor. Most users still do not check the sources of sites before they read content. Even fewer check a site’s URL.
This is why it is more important than ever for the authorities to promote news literacy. We have heard nothing of a media literacy board set up late last year, apart from news that it is already onto its second chairperson.
That does not bode well.
Citizens need tangible help in learning how to navigate and critically assess online content, not a well-meaning but, ultimately, pointless report-writing exercise by another government quango.
Combating the disinformation also requires strong professional journalism. Malta’s news industry must be in a position to work unhindered and not have to fight off the fake news sites and disinformation which risk discrediting it further. It is bad enough that certain government officials appear to go out of their way to falsely brand legitimate news reports they might disagree with as “fake news”.
Research has also shown that the term “fake news” drives consumers to drop news outlets which are doing their utmost to give an accurate picture. Others simply decide to consume less information overall and that is dangerous if a democracy is to thrive.
It was encouraging to hear Prime Minister Robert Abela condemn the disinformation campaign on Monday. The condemnation now needs to be followed up by police action to identify the perpetrators and their motives.