Fake news in focus: Andre Wolf clarifies in Au about disinformation

Fake news in focus: Andre Wolf clarifies in Au about disinformation

Au, Deutschland - in Au/Hallertau, the “Week of Democracy” has created an exciting event that dealt with a explosive topic: fake news and its exposing. Organized by Philipp Barthelme and Heidrun Hee, the guest speaker Andre Wolf von Mimikama, an association that is committed to fighting internet abuse. The event found great interest and illustrated the importance of media literacy in today's social media.

Wolf took the audience: on the inside on a journey through the world of disinformation. He presented the strategy that was shaped by Steve Bannon and bears the provocative name "Flood the Zone with Shit". This tactic aims to create confusion in public discourse so that it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish facts from fictions. A fact that is more up to date than ever, because the spread of fake news has increased in recent years, especially in social networks.

The variety of fake news

Wolf said that fake news can be divided into three categories:

• Completely invented content
• misinterpreted content
• Real pictures and videos with false descriptions

In order to illustrate the risk of false information, he presented numerous examples. For example, an image that was supposed to show a nuisance by "Muslim migrants" was actually taken from a drug-off offense video from Prague. Another example was a picture of coffins of British soldiers who came from 2006 and was incorrectly used in the context of the Ukraine War. Such targeted disinformation campaigns can significantly undermine trust in the media and the political landscape.

The discussion about fake news is not a new one. The trigger included Donald Trump 2016 and the Brexit referendum. In recent years, confidence in political and media institutions has decreased, which has increased the receptivity of the citizens: inside for false information. As extensive studies show, well -informed people often have a better sense of fake news, while at the same time it is also specifically used on dubious sources.

EU initiatives against disinformation

At the European level, efforts to counteract the problem of disinformation are also evident. The European Commission has provided 5 million euros for projects that are intended to strengthen EU's resilience against fake news. These funding is aimed at civil society actors as well as universities and research centers. From June 16, applications are open to develop innovative approaches to combat disinformation and to increase the effect of independent factor examination organizations. Two tenders were published, one of which focused on the detection of information manipulation campaigns.

The European Union has also launched other initiatives, such as "EU vs. disinfo" and the European Digital Media Observatory. These programs are part of a comprehensive approach to support citizens: inside, recognize and question false information. Media literacy is more than ever seen as essential tools to preserve trust in information.

Wolf concluded his explanations with the recommendation to use the methods of looking for pictures backwards to check the authenticity of information. Further tools and information are available on the Mimikama website, which prove to be a valuable resource in the fight against fake news. The attentive listeners: Inside in Au/Hallertau, many suggestions took with them not only to themselves, but also others in dealing with information.