Why are misinformation and disinformation ranking high among the WEF's top global risks for 2025?

CGTN Europe interviewed Dr. Gianluca Pescaroli, Risk management expert at University College London

Transcript

00:00Gianluca Pescaroli is a risk management expert at University College London.

00:05A reason for which we could argue that misinformation contributes to increase everything else

00:13is that whatever we act is based on information.

00:17I was yesterday with my students explaining the role of coordination in managing emergency.

00:22If we have the wrong information or if society during a crisis have the wrong information

00:27everything has the potential to become more complicated.

00:30Well let's talk about COVID for example.

00:33Many dissenting voices presumably in the view of WEF,

00:38many dissenting voices pleading against lockdown, school closures, university closures you'll know about,

00:45working from home, I mean that was viewed as misinformation or disinformation

00:50as it was seen by a global elite.

00:53But I mean given the consequences of lockdowns and all the rest of it that we now know about,

00:59was that disinformation or misinformation right all along?

01:03And where does this leave the WEF's latest outpourings?

01:08In this case I would say the decision that we are taking in many cases

01:13were done on the reasonable science that was at the time.

01:17What would be more concerning in terms of disinformation and misinformation at the time

01:22was how fake news were bringing on behaviours that were absolutely proven to be not safe.

01:32For example not having masks in public places or in hospitals or these kind of things.

01:39So the bottom line I believe of what you are suggesting is an ethical concern

01:45of how we see the development of information and their use with AI, social media in the next future.

01:54So what is the ethical use and what is right or wrong?

01:57What is also the margin of mistakes we have?

02:03The danger is, its critics will say, the WEF could lead the world to a form of censorship.

02:12And that's a fair reservation to have, isn't it?

02:15This seems a bit extreme. I think it depends a lot by situation.

02:21And it depends what are the boundaries you take and what are the boundaries you take for misinformation or not.

02:26There are some type of misinformation anywhere that are simply criminal activity.

02:32So I would say that everything can be brought to the extreme or not.

02:38My take in that report is more related to the concern of how we can understand what are,

02:45if you are interested on this specific topic, what can be the boundary condition between

02:51how can we assure that in a situation of emergency and a situation of crisis,

02:58organisations that are in charge of our safety and our security like civil protection systems

03:05can effectively communicate what is safe and secure.

03:10For example, an evacuation route during a wildfire.

03:13So there are different problems here.

03:17It's not so easy to say that we can go just one direction or just the other direction.