Éva Bognár on Anti-Refugee Disinformation
Anti-refugee disinformation often relies on deeper societal prejudices, CMDS Senior Program Officer and Researcher Éva Bognár told Euractiv in an article discussing the connection between right-wing extremists and mainstream politicians.
The article references the recent study co-authored by Bognár and CMDS Outreach Coordinator Judit Szakács for the European Parliament’s INGE Committee on disinformation and minorities, and the INGE hearing on the issue in which they participated.
Bognár told Euractiv that disinformation is difficult to tackle because it is “a very diverse field in terms of actors, in terms of tools and methods” and because “it uses narratives stemming from much deeper societal conditions and prejudices, which are much harder to challenge through policy.” She said that the discussion on possible responses to disinformation often focuses on state action, but this can be “highly problematic for the reason that, in some cases, the state is not a benign actor.”
At the same time, platforms’ voluntary measures are often not enough. “We cannot let corporations self-regulate, because it does not seem to be working. It is not in their interest to go through with some of the necessary changes, so there should be a policy response,” Bognár told Euractiv.