The lonelier and more isolated people are, the more susceptible they are to becoming victims of disinformation, according to Una Titz, Program Director at the Amadeu Antonio Foundation in Germany. For the past five years, she has monitored fake news campaigns in the digital space and the evolution of anti-democratic movements. In this interview, the expert discusses the complicity of social media platforms in the erosion of public discourse and how we can deradicalize loved ones who have fallen into the propaganda trap. The discussion was facilitated by the Berlin Journalism School (Berliner Journalisten-Schule).
Author of the Discussion: Natalia Sergheev
Natalia Sergheev: We are somewhat accustomed to thinking about disinformation primarily in terms of the mass media space. Usually, if we are fortunate enough to have laws against disinformation, they protect the consumer of the press, whatever its form: TV, online, etc. Social networks, however, continue to be a kind of Wild West. What perception gaps, so to speak, exist in this area? What don’t we understand when it comes to disinformation on social media?
Una Titz: Currently, we are experiencing a shift, essentially. What’s happening is that up until now, social networks—before Elon Musk arrived—still had an interest in monitoring and removing certain content from their platforms. Well, ever since the “Let That Sink In” takeover, when Elon Musk took over Twitter, what has happened is that all the major platforms, one after another, have started to distance themselves from the notion of “trust and safety,” meaning the security and the terms they imposed on their platforms to ensure the discourse and what happens there is, after all, factual and not all sorts of delusions and craziness…
The full version of the Podcast was published in Romanian and can be found on the Stopfals.md website here. Natalia Sergheev prepared this interview as part of The Berlin Journalism School’s (BJS) Strengthening Resilience Against Disinformation program, which is supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.