THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) on Tuesday called for collaboration with the media and civil society to create awareness in countering the agents of misinformation and disinformation around the globe.
The Foreign Affairs Spokesperson of the EU, Anouar El Anouni made the call while speaking at a training on disinformation held at the Bloc headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
The spokesperson said the European External Action Security (EEAS) is working hard to expose the elements of disinformation by raising awareness and countering them with the true information.
According to him, exposing disinformation is the first step towards raising awareness.
“Be it through proactive, positive, strategic communications campaign or debunking, and also by what we’re doing now, fostering society resilience and building partnerships with media outlets from around the world.
“We may need to unpack what we mean by disinformation,
As the lines between fact and fiction are increasingly blurred, with the rise of misinformation, disinformation, and other forms of manipulated content popping up on the social space.
“Misinformation appears to be unintentional, but disinformation is a deliberate attempt to deceive, potentially harming the reputation of an institution or individual which could also erode trust in civil society, undermining the democratic processes and elections.
“The EEAS has been in the forefront in terms of addressing what we call Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI),” he said.
He further explained why they call it information manipulation, because we focus on the intention, you know, the intention, to twist, to manipulate, not that much in terms of what his said.
“In the bloc, we do believe in open society, and we do believe in democracy, because we are 27 democracies, that is also why we accept debates. We accept to have different opinions.
“We have also seen that the information space has become another playground to fuel wars, and that wars, conflicts do not only happen on the ground, on the field, but also online,” he said. (NAN)
