The worldwide Trend to Fake News takes fast-travel. Meanwhile, the leaders of the EU to fight against this unwanted development. Even the Union itself could be threatened, fear our columnist Thomas Brey.
US President, Donald Trump has made it in again this week. He accused the short message service Twitter, after all, the most important channel for political communication, to make it difficult for users to keep Track of his account, @realdonaldtrump. In reality, the number of his Followers had risen since July by about three million. At the end of October, the top politician who is regarded as an important Creator of Fake News that had been attacked, once more, the prestigious media in his country. “The Fake News-media are the true enemies of the people. You need to stop with open hostility, and correctly reports”. The message is clear: The world’s most respected reputable US media like the New York Times, Washington Post or CNN to spread one-sided, incorrect content, while the President of the truth is obliged.
Russia, Too, Fake-News-Source
Actually, it should be clear: facts are facts, the subsequent Interpretation and annotation allows for great game rooms. Today, the facts themselves are not, however, uncontroversial. In the social networks, the fist is right to complain. Who has the Power to sell false than true, can enforce his incorrect statement as a new truth. Prior to that, the EU is afraid of now. The Commission sees Russia as the main source of false information, and thus as a factor of influence on elections in Europe. Moscow is accused of, the vote on the UK leaving the EU and the US 2016 presidential election influenced. It is a “real challenge for our democratic systems,” warned the EU heads of state and heads of government at their last summit in Brussels.
In November, a cyber attack was made on a news portal while a member of the EU Lithuania for excitement. Might have been on the Portal of “Kas Vyksta Kaune?” (What’s going on in Kaunas?) a wrong message is posted in order to bring NATO into disrepute, reported the media. After that, the military Alliance plan an attack on Belarus. In accordance with the relevant negative experiences in the French national Assembly decided a few days later, a package of laws against deliberately spread Fake News to election time.
In vain, the journalists and the left were gone as right-wing Opposition against the laws of a storm, because they feared a kind of “thought police” and “censorship”. Federal Minister of justice Katarina Barley (SPD) wants to watch the impact of the new strategy against false signals accurately, they announced.
Wrong messages in the center of power of the EU
The phenomenon of false reports, so the Claim of truth about obviously wrong, is now arrived in the centre of power in the EU. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, takes no sheet before the mouth: “I have made in the European Council is very clear that some of the Prime Minister, sitting, and even Fake News sources,” he said after the summit in mid-December. A particular thorn in the side of Hungary’s government leader Viktor Orban was to him: “If Mr Orban says, for example, that I am in favour of the Brexit responsible and guilty, then the Fake News. If he says that migrants are for the Brexit responsible, then the Fake News,” he criticized.
The EU has recognized the explosive effect of false messages, and wants. At the beginning of December, the Commission published an action plan, which provides that funds from 1.9 million to be increased to five million euros. But this is apparently only a trivial sum in view of hundreds and hundreds of millions of euros, provided by Russia for its “information war” against the West.
Strategy against Fake News begins in the schools
This is a great step in view of the dramatic impact of “false truths” is necessary. Because in the meantime, young people see themselves, at least once a week, Fake News and hate almost a fifth to talk about being exposed, even daily, results from a representative survey of the “Vodafone Foundation” in October of last year. Three-quarters of the respondents indicated that the false news and Hate are Speech dealt with in the school, where this was not an issue.
A promising long-term strategy against Fake News & Co to start with, however, especially in the schools, are all the experts agree. However, in Germany, the originally planned five billion Euro are to be placed for the digitalization of schools because of political Resistances on the ice. By the Federal government for planned amendment to the basic law will be blocked from the numerous provinces from the constitutional political concerns. The digital Pact of the Federal government’s planned Form was a “frontal assault on our Federal system” and must therefore be rejected, substantiated, for example, the baden-württemberg Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann this resistance. Because “we do not want any diminution of the country”, argues the Green leaders.
Thomas Brey has worked for almost four decades as a foreign correspondent for the German press Agency, dpa, and most recently as regional office Manager for South-East Europe, all the dpa offices in the Balkans directed.