Disinformation in 2024: The Perfect Storm?

According to a May survey of 289 respondents in 54 countries, two-thirds believed that “the failure to hold social media companies to account” for their inaction against misinformation and hate speech would be a more serious problem. Meta and Twitter (now X) have already, in the past year, reduce or eliminate them completely Their teams are for “moderation”.

The survey was conducted by the International Commission on the Information Environment (IPIE), a non-profit organization set up last year in Switzerland. Selected researchers must have published at least one peer-reviewed article on a topic relevant to the issue of false or misleading news, whether it was published with malicious intent (misinformation) or without malicious intent (disinformation).

More than half of these researchers (54%) believe that the situation will deteriorate in their countries. A third cited social media companies as one of the most serious threats to dialogue, and another third pointed to politicians. And not just those who live in authoritarian regimes: One concern is that politicians in more democratic countries “borrow” communication strategies from those who live in authoritarian regimes.

Près des three quarts (72%) s’entendent sur l’importance d’une plus grande transparence des plateformes, c’est-à-dire un accès élargi à leurs données afin de pouvoir mieux evaluer les modération efforts qui ont du succès -Firstly.

This lack of platform transparency (Twitter was a rare exception to researchers, before Elon Musk acquired it) has often been singled out in recent years as an obstacle to better understanding this disinformation ecosystem. This expanded access to data may be even more urgent, as artificial intelligence may lead to the spread of false or misleading information.