Tag: disinformation
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The Eurovision Song Contest as an information war battlefield
This article originally appeared in Dutch in SamPol. The presence of Israel in the 2024 Eurovision song contest has generated a lot of protest, but Israel’s participation is an important part of its ‘Hasbara’ strategy to keep being seen as a rational democratic actor. Military and political strategists have long known that a war is…
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The threat of disinformation can be worse than disinformation itself
This article originally appeared in Dutch for SamPol Magazine. As several countries have introduced new legislation to put a stop to disinformation, those laws can also be abused to silence the independent press. According to the World Economic Forum, “AI-generated disinformation” will be the biggest threat for 2024. For its Global Risks report, experts and…
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What we can learn from conspiracists on social media
(Parts of this piece previously appeared in Dutch in Knack.) By relying solely on traditional media, we might not be able to create group immunity with a COVID-19 vaccine. A wave of conspiracies has washed over the information ecosystem and play into people’s deep seated fears. Science communicators can learn from conspiracy influencers how to…
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Anti-vaccination and the Tragedy of the Commons
For almost a year now I have been diving in, and have been kicked out of several anti-vaccination Facebook groups. There is an ever growing community of people who refuse to vaccinate against diseases like Measles, Chicken Pox, Tetanus, Polio, HPV,… It’s become so big that the World Health Organization even named vaccine hesitancy one…
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How the Russians really hacked the 2016 election
The Russians tried to hack the American elections. But not in the way that we’re used to. This piece treats some possible consequences for the West of the information war Russia has taken outside of its borders.
Nathalie Van Raemdonck 