Fake news - a growing threat to democracy and social cohesion

Result

More than four out of five German citizens consider the spread of fake news to be a serious threat to democracy and social cohesion in Germany. This means that fake news has the potential to spread disinformation, undermine trust in the media and influence political opinions, regardless of gender, income, age, place of residence or level of education. This high level of agreement emphasises the need to understand the mechanisms behind the spread of fake news and to develop countermeasures.

Reasons

Social media and online platforms undoubtedly facilitate the spread of fake news, as they allow information to be disseminated quickly and widely without the need for fact-checking. This makes it possible to spread fake news before it is even recognised as such. Fake news is also sometimes deliberately used to manipulate political opinions, discredit individuals, influence public opinion and increase social tensions - both at national and international level. Fake news is published professionally and makes identification more difficult, especially as many citizens do not have sufficient media skills to distinguish fake news from trustworthy information. Sometimes this even leads to false news being passed on unknowingly.

Forecast

The spread of fake news will continue to pose a serious challenge to democracy and social cohesion in the future. However, there are also approaches to counteract this threat. For example, stricter regulation could help to identify and delete fake news more quickly. Online platforms could be obliged to check content using artificial intelligence and enable the authors to be identified. Appropriate sanctions and penalties could then follow in the event of misuse, whereby data protection guidelines and freedom of the press must of course be taken into account.

In addition, more educational programmes and initiatives for increased media literacy could or must be initiated in the future in order to better prepare citizens to recognise and critically question fake news. However, a single measure will not be enough to reduce the spread of fake news in the long term. Rather, a coordinated effort by governments and media organisations, schools and universities, technology companies, parents and ultimately each individual is necessary. Relying solely on the fact that "the others" will solve this problem is unfortunately fake news.