Like most countries in the world, Egypt is seeing an increase in the number of social media users and with them the threat of more and more fabricated or fake news. Hardly a day passes without the dissemination of rumours on Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, with these social media applications sometimes being used to spread ill-intended messages. Many Internet users, especially young people, may get their news from social media, where there are no obvious barriers between fact and fiction. Aware of the effect that this could have on social stability, new efforts are being made to tackle the problem, including by the Council of Europe, an international organisation whose aim is to uphold human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Europe.
What is the Council of Europe doing to combat fake news? Three years ago, the Council of Europe decided to carry out a study in order to make sure that there was a good understanding of what fake news was, because everyone was using the term. It was being used too often and too broadly by people who saw something published that did not suit their political agendas. That is why the study made a distinction between mal-information, disinformation, and misinformation. It defined misinformation as information that is false, but not created with the intention of causing harm, like using outdated information without realising it. As for mal-information, this is based on real information that is used to inflict harm. Then there is disinformation, which is false news deliberately created to harm an individual or an entity or a country. The last is a combination of the first two types and is sometimes wrong information that is used in order to disorient the public in order to attain certain political, economic or social goals. This is what I think we should be referring to when we speak of fake news, and that of course also includes propaganda. For us, the study was the starting point to gain clarity about the terms we are using. On that basis, the European Commission is also taking further action to combat fake news. We need a number of tools to do that, and we cannot do it alone as a European institution, but we need to do it together with media outlets. We also need to do it with Internet intermediaries, governments, journalists, and civil society. There are a number of fact-checking institutions to ensure that the information provided in the news and on social media is actually correct. At the Council of Europe, we have worked with organisations in Tunisia and Morocco, but we have been less active in the Middle East in working on these issues as our prime focus is obviously to work with the European countries.
What can be done to help young people spot fake news? Journalists are not the only source of information today, and unfortunately we are seeing a diminishing trust in the information provided through journalistic channels. In the meantime, there is a growing “self-informing” trend through the social networks. So, we on one side, with the professionals, the journalists, on the other side, are trying to put out information about quality journalism. In other words, ethical journalism and investigative journalism, where there is a commitment to ensuring that the facts are right and that they are based on research rather than on opinion, in order to rebuild trust in journalistic channels. Second, and out of our belief that we have a strong role to play with regards to media literacy, we hope to help enable the younger generation to get a good understanding of the media landscape. This will help them to understand how to look for real information, how to look for valid information, and how to ensure that they can see the way in which fake information and disinformation is disguised in the information flow, which today is enormous.
Should schools be involved in this awareness-raising? Schools have a fundamental role to play. Very often, our education systems, let's face it, are still based on 20th-century or even 19th-century models. Of course, a system, an education system, is difficult to transform, and it is slow to address new challenges. Very often, our school system is still stuck in the Industrial Revolution and is still about preparing students for certain jobs that in future may no longer exist. We have to ensure, on the one hand, that first of all our school system is adapted to the challenges of the digital era. And at the same time, we have to ensure that our pupils become media literate.
How can the wider public become more aware of the dangers of fake news? This needs to be done by society, by civil society, by media organisations, by national governments, by technological companies, and by educational centres. All of these have to cooperate. If that is not possible, we could look at the actors that are most aware of disinformation and on which groups the impact of this is most important. From there, you can find a starting point. Is there in Egypt an institution that could look into the veracity of the news? Is there an analysis that is already available? Are there smaller institutions maybe that look at the news? In parallel to this, I would say, we should also organise awareness-raising initiatives. I think that would be an important start. So, my answer is that you cannot do it alone. You need to do it with partners from different backgrounds. It also has to be in partnership with the media world, because right now there is a growing distrust of official media channels.
Fake news in Egypt is often created by TV stations that support the Muslim Brotherhood. How can the government tackle this kind of non-Internet fake news? You need fact-checking institutions. The name may sound big, but in quite a number of cases these are small foundations that can warn against false information through the Internet.
Is the Council of Europe working with Egypt or any of the other North African countries on fake news? Unfortunately, we do not have direct contacts with Egypt in this field. We have worked with Tunisia and Morocco, where we work with regulators and government on legal issues and journalists and civil society. We have established a number of contacts with the regulators in Lebanon and Jordan, but for the time being no direct contacts with Egypt. So, it would be an important first step to maybe hold a conference with the relevant stakeholders in Egypt on the dangers of disinformation. We could support this conference and send a representative.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 January, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
