“We are way past self-regulation. Flagging misinformation is a start, but we have to invest in critical journalism and hold those accountable who provide the technical infrastructure for the construction of fake news”, says Howard, professor of Internet studies at the Oxford Internet Institute and author of the book Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives.

Imminent connection between nationalists and fake news

In his keynote speech at the conference of the “Digital, direkt, demokratisch?”, organised by the Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Howard also talked about right-wing groups and nationalist politicians utilizing misinformation to strengthen their agenda: “Politicians employ services by companies and junk news services just like lobbying groups do. It becomes harder and harder for the public to differentiate between real journalism and fake news. Independent journalism is a vital part to counter this development. We need to make public investments and strengthen critical journalism globally.

The conference NTA9-TA21 runs until May 12, further keynote speakers are Julian Nida-Rümelin, Gerda Falkner and Moritz Leuenberger. You can view the full program and find the links to the Keynotes here.