{"title":"Malicious Information Threats of a Post-Covid World in Europe and the European Union","authors":"Y. Kolotaev","doi":"10.15211/soveurope72021135143","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on a wide range of areas in which the information sphere occupies a special place. The context of the pandemic distorted the online space. From the very start of the pandemic, the information related to the coronavirus was often unreliable or questionable due to the lack of comprehensive information about the virus. The dominance of digital disinformation disseminated via social media has led to the situation of an “infodemic”. It reflects a massive propagation of unverified information. To understand the consequences of this situation, this article examines diverse models of European national and supranational responses to the infodemic. The aim of the study is to systematize the actions of the EU and European countries. The author carried out a comparative analysis comprising a distinction between the actions launched by the European Union and non-EU countries, as well as national authorities and supranational structures. Based on the presented data, this article revealed the absence of a single “European response” to disinformation, which the European Union is trying to achieve. It also demonstrated the existing desire of different countries to move towards legislative actions and regulation on countering disinformation but the pace and means of this development depend on the degree of state involvement in a multistakeholder dialogue with online platforms.","PeriodicalId":42204,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Europe-Sovremennaya Evropa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Contemporary Europe-Sovremennaya Evropa","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.15211/soveurope72021135143","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"AREA STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on a wide range of areas in which the information sphere occupies a special place. The context of the pandemic distorted the online space. From the very start of the pandemic, the information related to the coronavirus was often unreliable or questionable due to the lack of comprehensive information about the virus. The dominance of digital disinformation disseminated via social media has led to the situation of an “infodemic”. It reflects a massive propagation of unverified information. To understand the consequences of this situation, this article examines diverse models of European national and supranational responses to the infodemic. The aim of the study is to systematize the actions of the EU and European countries. The author carried out a comparative analysis comprising a distinction between the actions launched by the European Union and non-EU countries, as well as national authorities and supranational structures. Based on the presented data, this article revealed the absence of a single “European response” to disinformation, which the European Union is trying to achieve. It also demonstrated the existing desire of different countries to move towards legislative actions and regulation on countering disinformation but the pace and means of this development depend on the degree of state involvement in a multistakeholder dialogue with online platforms.
期刊介绍:
“Contemporary Europe” – is academic journal founded in 2000 by Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences. 4 The journal published quarterly since 2000 under auspices of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Editorial board and editorial staff consider themselves as a mirror of contemporary Russian political, economical and social sciences in general, we eager to reflect in the journal’s pages current level of Russian-European relations, European Studies in Russia and European Union. “Contemporary Europe” focused on the problems of relations and cooperation between Russia and European Union, economical, political, cultural, religious situation in Russia and European countries. “Contemporary Europe” have managed to occupy a leading place in the community of experts on European Studies. Among our authors and members of Editorial Board – scholars, famous political scientists, experts in Foreign affairs. Our journal distributing throughout government institutions, embassies, research centers, libraries in Russia and abroad. The journal has nowadays more than 1000 thousand regular subscribers. The data on our readership convincingly show that the journal is actively and frequently used as a kind of text book by university students. Thus, visitors to public libraries might often come across outworn copies of the journal – evidence of its frequent (and regrettably rather rough) use by the readers. Book reviews occupy a significant part “Contemporary Europe” to presenting to our readers most of the publications of interest appearing in Russia and European Union.