https://arab.news/9krs8
In a world where threats and dangers are plentiful, diverse and appear to creep from almost every corner, the findings of a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, which discovered that adults across 25 countries see the spread of false information online as the top threat, seems unexpected, at least at first glance. Why would people feel more threatened by false information than, for instance, the condition of the global economy, terrorism, climate change or the spread of infectious diseases, as this survey reveals?
It is not that people are complacent about the other threats, with the respondents’ other concerns not lagging far behind. Yet, so soon after the world came to a halt due to the worst pandemic in living memory; after repeated warnings that unless humanity takes drastic measures to contain global warming we are all doomed; and the fact that most people feel poorer than they did a few years ago, the prominence of disinformation, or fake news, as existentially scary is not self-evident. At the end of the day, are we not knowledgeable enough to distinguish between truth and lies?
It is not that disinformation is new or unique to our generation, but it might be the magnitude and the frequency of it today and the fact that those who spread it do so bluntly and unashamedly that terrifies us. It is also because, broadly speaking, people are more educated than in the past and so are aware of the dangers of spreading misinformation.
