Disinformation Coimisiún na Meán and the National Counter Disinformation Strategy

Disinformation is false information which is deliberately intended to mislead. The only way to overcome lies is with truth, and the Government can't be the arbiter of what that is.

Here in Ireland, there is currently under development a National Counter Disinformation Strategy.

The European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) Ireland Hub, recommends that the Strategy should:

Coordinate national efforts to counter organized coordinated campaigns of manipulation of Irish internet users and ensure transparency about content moderation policies that impact Irish citizens.

Develop effective long-term monitoring of the application of the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation and the Digital Services Act in Ireland.

Be developed in consultation with all relevant Departments and agencies, the Irish EDMO Hub, industry stakeholders, news organizations, civil society groups and Irish fact-checkers and disinformation researchers. The Strategy should also incorporate a role for Irish citizens, potentially seeking oversight of decisions impacting Irish users of content platforms, or complaints filed by them.

Examine other examples of other international best practice.

Build relationships between platforms and academic researchers that facilitate access to data that would inform better interventions to prevent the spread of disinformation.

Identify measures to support innovation in fact-checking and disinformation research and provide support for innovation in areas critical to compliance with the new regulatory environment created by the Digital Services Act;

Review existing media literacy initiatives in Ireland, including an examination of potential for a more joined-up approach between relevant government departments and agencies on the development of media literacy initiatives. Pilot programs for media literacy emerging from this review should be eligible for direct support under the Media Fund.

Acknowledge the important role that free, independent, high-quality journalism plays in countering disinformation, and align with efforts to protect the supply of public interest information at local and national level.

A body to be known as Coimisiún na Meán has been established to provide for the policing.

So, the countering of Disinformation here has been all neatly contained and bundled up in a nice tidy bow, with as you can see in the recommendations, relevant government departments, industry stakeholders, news organizations, civil society groups etc each having an input into what is TRUTH.

However, I would ask, who are the industry stakeholders that are going to be responsible for say, information about a pandemic? Will they be big pharma AGAIN or will we see people like Dr John Campbell in mainstream media analyzing and dissecting peer reviewed reports that show we have been lied to about Covid Harms, mRNA spike proteins causing myocarditis and all the medical evidence that was hidden in the past.

Or maybe having no monetary investment in a product, just the well being of citizens, makes one not a stakeholder.

Its easy to throw up your arms and shout, “FAKE NEWS, FAKE NEWS” and these new moves will make it easy for information to be labeled and hidden behind a label of disinformation, but we need proof of disinformation we need debate that is transparent and unbiased. What we do not need is a method for stakeholders to suppress the truth in order to satisfy agendas that are neither transparent or in our best interests.