Thread by @mlrchtr

1/ Before I left Brussels, I sat down with @KacaSaf for a detailed interview (in Czech) to discuss what the #EU is getting wrong in its approach to tackling #disinformation. Highlights in English below👇

https://twitter.com/Hospodarky/status/1285180151316217857

2/ With some exceptions (notably @VeraJourova), the EU tends to see disinformation as a narrowly technological problem – one born of the externalities of the digital information architecture.

3/ As a result, the EU’s counterdisinfo efforts focus on things like platform cooperation (the disastrous Code of Practice) and softer “resilience” solutions like fact-checking, media literacy, journalism support, etc.

4/ I don’t want to downplay the importance of these latter measures – in fact, I think the EU isn’t investing nearly enough into them. An empowered civil society is a crucial front-line defense in the fight against disinformation.

5/ But the problem with this tech-centric approach is that it focuses only on the conditions that enable disinfo and related forms of manipulation to flourish. It completely sidesteps the (arguably) more important question, which is...

6/ ...who is exploiting these conditions to harm us, and how can we stop them?

7/ Fundamentally, disinformation is about intent to harm and deceive. While shoring up vulnerabilities in our information space is important, that alone does nothing to solve the problem of malign intent. Malign intent requires deterrence. The imposition of costs.

8/ The EU would rather ignore this and instead treat disinformation as an apolitical or “actor agnostic” issue. That utterly misses the point.

9/ Disinformation is explicitly political warfare. In the hands of our adversaries, it is also just one part of a much broader influence playbook that threatens democratic security.

10/ It’s past time for the EU to face up to this reality. The @EU_Commission and @eu_eeas need to develop a far more comprehensive and security-oriented framework for tackling disinformation and foreign interference. COVID should have been the ultimate wake-up call. /fin