Information Crises: the EU’s response and the South Asian digital media landscape

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Abstract

These are difficult days for democratic countries. Among other challenges, advances in technology have allowed the seamless dissemination of manipulated or fabricated text, video and audio. The pervasiveness of social media has facilitated false information to be rapidly amplified to receptive audiences, and geopolitical contexts like that of South Asia are no exception. Within this scenario, with the whole world currently trying to battle an ‘information crisis’, this paper focuses on the efforts displayed by Europe in recent years so as to combat disinformation. It critically reflects upon what South Asia’s approach could be to fight this eminent information crisis. It suggests that for an effective, long-term solution, it is imperative to move beyond tactical approaches that target the "supply” side of the problem. This paper argues that in order to succeed, regulatory policies must be accompanied by offline measures of socio-political inclusivity and transparency: healthy debates, education and knowledge dispersion and socio-cultural conscientiousness.