Rumours, Propaganda, and Censorship

Rumours or fake news often spread significantly faster than the actual facts. A commentary by Karl von Habsburg.

One hundred years ago, during the First World War, which had just ended, censorship was in force. Censorship means, among other things, that only news conforming to political directives may appear in newspapers. Consequently, the news situation was extremely poor. Yet, the hunger for information persisted. One could compare it to a state-controlled ‘market’ where products are offered only according to political criteria, or by ration card. The result is a thriving black market.
In the news market, rumours constituted this black market. The crucial difference being that on the black market for products, one can usually verify what one receives, whereas with rumours, the truthfulness is not truly verifiable. Thus, some of the most absurd rumours spread, far removed from reality, yet capable of satisfying the hunger for news.
Today, one would probably speak of alternative facts or fake news, which spread rapidly via social media, etc.
Although there is no censorship today, rumours – which are connected to reality only insofar as they refer, at least partially, to a real event – are part of the daily information we receive through various channels. And because these rumours, these deliberately disseminated false reports, appear as a news sensation to which one suddenly has access, and which moreover seem to shed light on a matter, they often spread much faster than the facts.
This fact is exploited by the entire propaganda machinery, as operated, for instance, in the Kremlin’s troll factories. This was observed during the downing of the Dutch passenger plane in eastern Ukraine, and before that, during the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine, among many other examples.
So, if rumours become the source of news in wartime due to censorship, and we observe today how rumours and disinformation are accepted as factual, one might occasionally ask the inverse question: do the many rumours, the massive disinformation, point to a war? They are at least part of a hybrid war. And even that can be dangerous. Ultimately, sound decisions can only be made on the basis of facts, not on the basis of fake news or rumours.

The article originally appeared on the Karl von Habsburg website.