‘Disinformation commissioner’ call to tackle fake news
Scotland is facing multiple challenges around disinformation from foreign powers such as Iran, Russia and China, an SNP MP has warned in a new paper outlining the threat posed by fake news originating from hostile countries.
Stewart Mcdonald, the SNP’S spokesperson on defence, published a paper on disinformation in Scotland yesterday, urging the Scottish Government to appoint a commissioner dedicated to countering disinformation.
The paper also suggested “annual open days” for Scottishmediaorganisationswhere newsrooms are opened up to the public for a day or surgeries areheldwithreadersorviewers in more rural parts of Scotland in a bid to rebuild trust in traditional media and make public the methods of journalists.
The report highlights the increased activity of disinformation actors such as Russian
“bots and troll farms” pushing anti-vaccination messages or promoting disinformation around the efficacy of vaccines produced in the West.
He also raises the attempts of Iran to influence the 2014 independence referendum and the attempts of ‘Confucius Institutes’ – Chinese state-backed researchcentresinscottishuniversities – to “distort domestic political sentiment”.
The report states: “Scotland faces a range of disinformation actors who make use of a large and evolving toolbox of techniques to influence and corrupt the Scottish information eco-system. There is no panacea for this problem.”
The document adds the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities to disinformation the country faces and calls for consideration of a wide-range of solutions to the potential problems.
The MP for Glasgow South writes: “The Scottish and UK governments should recognise that the past year has revealed just how vulnerable our societiesaretodisinformation–from within and outwith the state – and take urgent steps to build information resilience within the Scottish population.
"If hostile foreign powers use thestate,businessesandprivate citizens to advance their disinformation campaigns, then liberal democracies’ response must be similarly holistic.
"Transparency,accountability and truth must be the foundations upon which a response to informationoperationsinscotland is built.”