A presentation made during the international Youth Exchange called Digital Danger and financed Erasmus+ Programme through Dům zahraniční spolupráce and the European Union
2. Terminology
• Misinformation - perhaps the most innocent of the terms – it’s
misleading information created or shared without the intent to
manipulate people
• Disinformation - refers to deliberate attempts to confuse or
manipulate people with dishonest information
• To convince – Change one‘s opinion by logic
• To persuade – Change one‘s opinion by emotions
• Hoax/Fake news – News intended to defraud
• Confirmation bias - The tendency to Interpret information that confirms
one's preexisting beliefs
3. Persuasion Strategies
and Fake News
• Fake news have the scope
not only to inform, but to
persuade the reader
• Aristotelian Rhetorics:
- Logos (The Reason)
- Ethos (Moral Convictions)
- Pathos (Emotions)
4. Fake News Strategies
• To create information that is not
easily verifiable
• To speak about controversial issues
as to raise its visibility
• Usage of modern technologies and
photo-editing software
• „Clickbait“ strategies
• Can be used to promote political
opinions
• To address the issues provoking
strong emotions of the public:
- Anger
- Fear
- Greed
5.
6. History of disinformation
and propaganda
• Ancient Egypt – The outcome of
the Battle of Kadesh around
1274 BC
• Ancient Persia – Behistun
inscriptions and Darius I
• Ancient Rome – Octavian‘s
campaign against Marcus
Augustus
7. Middle Ages
• Repeated pogroms against Jews
because of alleged cannibalistic
practices
• Repeated fake news about the End of
the World approaching, which also
created many religious and social
groups
• Crusades and „children crusades“
• Allegations of witchcraft
8. Early Modern Age
• Tulip Mania in Netherlands – one of the first early financial bubbles
• The invention of printing press made the flow of information, including fake information, much
faster
• The practice of fake news was banned in Netherlands by the 18th Century
• Fake news about stories of African Americans spontaneously turning white before the American
Civil War
• Usage of drugs, mostly cocaine and tobacco claimed to be healthy for commercial purposes
11. Russia and China – Superpowers of
disinformation
• Denial of Uyghur genocide in Xin Jiang, selling organs of the members of Falun Gong
• Propaganda about the living standards in Mainland China
• Famous Youtubers paid in order to create propaganda
• Censorship of Western movies
• Russian media and fake news websites banned in the Czech Republic
• Russia constantly publishing misleading information about the war
• Complete misinformation of many citizens and soldiers
