Disinformation or fake news has the ability to "destablise and delegitimise" next year's European elections, a seminar organised by the European Parliament in Dublin has been told.
During her address on the topic "False news and the European Election", the parliament's senior spokesperson Marjory Van Den Broeke, sounded a note of caution about the possible impact of fake news on next May's election.
"We're a bit worried. If you look at what happened for the Brexit referendum, the US presidential elections, the French presidential and even more recently the Italian election. It is clear there is a lot of disinformation which could really destabilise and delegitimise the European elections," she said.
She now heads up a new department within the parliament's communications team which aims to call out misinformation about the parliament, and prevent it.
However, she cautioned against regulation.
"You can regulate against hate speech, against terrorism for instance. But disinformation...spread through social media... it is part of free expression".
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report annual study published this week found that 57% of Irish readers were concerned about "fake news", similar to the UK figure of 58%.
At 71%, Irish consumers are more trusting of "most news" than the EU average of 62%, with trust rising to 78% in news they have specifically chosen to consume.
However, Irish consumers have low trust in social media – at just 28%.
Trust levels in social media in the US were 19% and 17% in the UK.
Ms Van Den Broeke said increasing media literacy was key to reducing the impact of fake news.
