News item | 23-12-2022 | 15:57
The government has presented a new government-wide strategy against disinformation. This strategy is aimed at strengthening the public debate and reducing the influence of disinformation, Minister Bruins Slot (Internal Affairs and Kingdom Relations) and State Secretary Van Huffelen (Kingdom Relations and Digitization) have informed the House. The strategy was sent on behalf of Minister Yesilgöz-Zegerius (Justice and Security) and State Secretary Uslu (Culture and Media).
An effective approach to misinformation and disinformation requires a government-wide strategy in which the values and fundamental rights of our constitutional state, such as freedom of expression and freedom of the press, are paramount. The basic principle remains that identifying what is and what is not disinformation and fact-checking are not primarily government tasks. When national security, public health or social and/or economic stability are at stake, the government can act and counter disinformation.
Minister Bruins Slot: “Disinformation can have harmful and disruptive effects on society. For example, when it comes to disinformation about the election process. But disinformation also affects people’s daily lives. When people do not know whether or not they can trust information, this can lead to unrest and uncertainty in society. With this strategy we want to protect our society against this.”
State Secretary Van Huffelen: “Most disinformation is spread via social media. We all know a form that we have come across in our daily use. Whether it’s a fake account or artificial intelligence used to quickly and easily create fake videos that look real, but are meant to mislead people. The government wants to reduce the impact of online disinformation. The starting point is careful moderation, compliance with European laws and regulations and being open about the use of data. And at the same time keep an eye on freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The government also wants to support public media and institutions such as schools, libraries and museums in developing their own infrastructure and social media environments, so that citizens can use alternative platforms.”
problem of disinformation
Disinformation is a major social problem. Disinformation is the deliberate, often covert, dissemination of misleading information, with the aim of harming the public debate, democratic processes, the open knowledge economy or public health. The spread of disinformation, from both at home and abroad, can disrupt the public debate, lead to unrest and uncertainty and have a disruptive effect on our society as a whole and the lives of individual people in it. Disinformation can also make effective government action more difficult and pose a threat to the integrity of the elections. Digitization allows disinformation to spread faster and with a wider reach. In addition, it also becomes more difficult to recognize. The Dutch are therefore increasingly concerned about disinformation.
Strengthen public debate
The government is committed to maintaining confidence in and pluralism of the Dutch free press. This contributes to limiting the breeding ground for the negative effects of disinformation on society. The main thing here is that the government does not determine what information is or is not reliable. Citizens themselves are primarily responsible for this. That is why the government is also committed to strengthening citizens’ resilience, for example through isdatechtzo.nl. Collaboration with, for example, libraries, museums and other organizations remains very important.
Reducing the influence of disinformation
The government also remains committed to reducing the spread and influence of disinformation. In this way, the government ensures that every ministry and the various authorities are able to respond appropriately when disinformation affects their policy area. To achieve this, awareness will be improved, but a clear framework will also be developed to determine what is punishable and what is not. The government is paying extra attention to disinformation spread by other countries, as mentioned earlier in the letter on Approach to State Threats.