Citizens' Dialogue in Tallinn with Vice-President Andrus Ansip

The scope, speed and and relatively low cost has entirely changed the concept of disinformation. It has become very easy to target specific audiences and even individuals.  

VP Andrus Ansip 

VP Ansip and Kersti Kaljulaid, the President of the Republic of Estonia, discussed the various options for defining and countering the recent spread of disinformation.   

83% of EU population consider disinformation as a danger for democracy and 73% of internet users are concerned about the credibility of information ahead of the elections.

Information attacks from outside, such as fake social media accounts and trolls, have become widespread in Europe and in the rest of the world. What can governments, EU institutions and each citizen on their own do about it?

VP Ansip said that common sense should be the main criteria for separating false information from the truth. However, in many cases information campaigns are not based on complete lies but rather on changing the focus of topics.

He said that in the Baltic states people are more immune to such persuasion through information than other European countries, partially because of their experience under the Soviet regime.

Even though it is often perceived that younger audiences can be manipulated more easier than the older ones, then studies have shown that this is in fact not the case. People's common sense must be trusted, but detecting fake accounts and pressuring social media platforms must be systematic. 

The discussion was led by well known journalist Indrek Treufeldt (Estonian Public Broadcasting) and featured about 100 of the Representation's major stakeholders (government officials, EDICs, journalists, political analysts, top civil servants from outside of Tallinn, rectors of main universities and directors of Tallinn's top schools.