This is a common space. EU podcast.

From the city of the Hague, welcome to Global Europe Unpact, a weekly podcast about Europe's

engagement with its neighborhood and wider world.

If you like the truth, you need the truth.

And I think democracies are just not capable of spreading this disinformation, like these

authoritarian regimes.

Hello and welcome to Global Europe Unpacked, the podcast that helps listeners to understand

the global trends affecting the European continent and the growing ambition for the EU to become

a global or geopolitical power. I'm your host, Will Murray, and in each episode, we should look

at an emerging foreign policy challenge facing Europe and how the continent can and should respond. In today's episode, we're going to look

at disinformation and will be speaking to Bart Gauthaus, a cyber security expert and member

of the European Parliament, who's going to help us to understand this growing threat and how

the EU can best rise to it. But first, what is disinformation?

Here's my colleague Nina.

The concept of disinformation refers to the deliberate dissemination of false or misleading information

to deceive or influence the opinions of others.

Of course, this is by no means a radical new concept.

We can find evidence of disinformation campaigns

as far back as the ancient Egyptians. In the 20th century, we saw the modernization of

propaganda by Nazi Germany, followed by the development of extensive disinformation campaigns

during the Cold War. In the 21st century, the internet revolutionized the information environment, giving new impetus to disinformation campaigns.

And a move from print to online news media, coupled with the rise of social media, has thrown oil under fire.

...