Moderator: Ms. Inbal Orpaz
Dr. Tehilla Shwartz-Altshuler, Dr. Liraz Margalit and Brig. Gen. (ret.) Itai Brun
The panel on fake news moderated by Ms. Inbal Orpaz featured four short lectures, showcasing the research of the Amnon Lipkin-Shahak Program at INSS, Brig. Gen (ret.) Itai Brun spoke about the how fake news has affected the national-security rooms, making it difficult to differentiate between truths and lies. As a result, the role of the truth has been shaken, and those who tell the truth, such as academics and journalist, have been attacked. Dr. Liraz Margalit talked about how checking facts requires cognitive efforts, and people find it easier to make decisions based on emotions. She noted that the strongest measure of truthfulness on the social networks is the number of likes. Ms. Orpaz discussed possible solutions, including educating the public to be more critical; methods of checking facts; regulation vis-à-vis the internet platforms; and the creation of technology to detect lies. Dr. Tehila Schwartz-Altschuler focused on one solution, that of regulation to control what she termed the “infocalypse.” She noted that as long as there is technological capitalism involved, the fake news will remain. Dr. Schwartz-Altschuler further warned that as we give data away about ourselves to all the tech giants, regulation is necessary to control the “datacalypse.” When asked about what they all feared for the future, Dr. Margalit mentioned the indifference of people to fake news, while Dr. Schwartz Altschuler expressed her concern about fake news becoming the focus of the security officials, while Brig. Gen (ret.) Brun expressed similar concern about the decision makers being removed from reality because of the fake news.