Volume 12 - Issue 71
/ November 2023
93
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.71.11.8
How to Cite:
Khmyrov, I., Khriapynskyi, A., Svoboda, I., Shevchuk, M., & Dotsenko, K. (2023). The impact of disinformation on the state
information policy. Amazonia Investiga, 12(71), 93-102. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.71.11.8
The impact of disinformation on the state information policy
Вплив дезінформації на державну інформаційну політику
Received: September 30, 2023 Accepted: November 25, 2023
Written by:
Ihor Khmyrov1
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7958-463X
Anton Khriapynskyi2
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2492-051X
Ivo Svoboda3
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0941-4686
Mykhailo Shevchuk4
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7549-6344
Kateryna Dotsenko5
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1299-4703
Abstract
The spread of disinformation in digital
communication causes anti-democratic
behaviour among Internet users, which may
threaten national security. The aim of the study
was to determine the legal means of combating
disinformation on the Internet as the main factor
in shaping antisocial behaviour in terms of digital
content. This issue was studied using the
methods of comparative analysis, system logical
analysis and doctrinal approach, as well as
empirical and theoretical methods. Legal means
of combating disinformation in cyberspace are
means aimed at detecting and removing
manipulative information from the information
space. The state information policy aimed at
combating fakes should ensure the transparency
of digital platforms, improve the digital literacy
of society, and establish monitoring and control
over the information flow in cyberspace.
International information standards oblige
developers of social networks and digital
platforms to create accessible and safe content
for their users to combat disinformation in
1
Doctor of Science in Public Administration, Senior Researcher at the Scientific Department of Problems of Civil Protection and
Technogenic and Ecological Safety of the Scientific and Research Center, National University of Civil Protection of Ukraine, Kharkiv,
Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: CZO-2061-2022
2
Candidate of Law, Director of “Khryapinsky and Co. Ltd.”, Kharkiv, Ukraine.
3
Associate Professor, Guarantor of Security Management Studies, AMBIS, Czech Republic. WoS Researcher ID: CBV-4475-2022
4
Candidate of Science of Law, Doctoral Student, Department of Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Financial Law, Leonid
Yuzkov Khmelnytskyi University of Management and Law, Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, WoS Researcher ID: IQW-6294-2023
5
Candidate of Philological Sciences/PhD, Social Communications and Information Activity Division, Department of Journalism,
Zaporizhzhia National University, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: CND-4269-2022
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cyberspace. The results of the study are useful for
governments in the context of the formation of an
effective state system of means of combating
fake news.
Palabras clave: cyberspace, disinformation,
information policy, social networks, fake
information.
Introduction
Increasing popularity of information and
communication technologies, the growing
volume of digital content and the relevance of
social networks open new opportunities for
cybercrime and the spread of disinformation. The
popularization of social networks among the
public entails the tendency to spread fake
information. They become a means of
communication with a lot of digital content,
where one can gather a crowd and spread false
information among them. Fake destructive
information is distributed among such digital
content to instigate extremist actions with the
incitement of racial or national enmity and the
spread of manifestations of racism or anti-
Semitism. The uncontrolled flow of
disinformation in cyberspace shapes anti-
democratic views and anti-social behaviour in
digital content. Ignoring the consequences of
disinformation can lead to crimes against the
state’s national security interests, mass riots, or
harm to the international authority of any country
in the world. Therefore, identifying the best
practices of foreign experience in the field of
countering and combating disinformation is
currently relevant.
The aim of this research is to study the impact of
disinformation on the state information policy
and its consequences on the development of a
legal democratic state. The aim of the article was
achieved through the fulfilment of the following
research objectives:
• Carry out an analysis of the provisions of
international standards on human rights and
find out the state of their violation in the
circulation of disinformation;
• Identify the role and significance of fake
news on the development of a democratic
society and the effectiveness of state
information policy measures to combat
disinformation by analysing the provisions
of regulatory and legal acts;
• Outline the limits of public permissibility of
state interference in a person’s private life in
the interests of increasing information
security.
• Determine the system of countermeasures
against disinformation and determine their
effectiveness in the fight against fake news
on the Internet.
Literature Review
The problem of disinformation is widely covered
in the works of scientists due to its global nature.
Disinformation can threaten the interests of not
only individual citizens, but also cause such
large-scale consequences as sowing enmity,
panic, can be aimed at the spread of
undemocratic ideas and, ultimately, threaten the
national security of individual states. Studying
disinformation as a threat to democracy, Tenove
(2020) and Allcott, Gentzkow and Yu (2019)
argue that the preservation of democracy is
possible only through the establishment of legal
mechanisms to ensure information security based
on openness, reporting, monitoring and public
control. Analyzing the importance of artificial
intelligence-supported disinformation for
developing the information sphere, Whyte
(2020) and Clayton, Davis, Hinckley and
Horiuchi (2019) note that informational fakes are
a modern public policy challenge. Miller and
Vaccari (2020) and Bimber and Gil de Zúñiga
(2020) note that developing an effective
information policy is possible by eliminating
risks from digital fakes aimed at manipulating
public opinion and forming antisocial behavior
of citizens.
False information in open sources forms a wrong
view in a person, regardless of his/her level of
Khmyrov, I., Khriapynskyi, A., Svoboda, I., Shevchuk, M., Dotsenko, K. / Volume 12 - Issue 71: 93-102 / November, 2023
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education, knowledge and experience (Bidzilya
et al., 2022). In the modern world, disinformation
is becoming the main threat to information
security and can discredit democratic values,
which is emphasized in several scientific works.
Rapp and Salovich (2018) and Greene and Yu
(2016), researching the consequences of
disinformation for a democratic society, note that
in order to overcome it, a system of
countermeasures against fake information should
be implemented at the state level, using modern
technologies. Examining disinformation as a risk
to democracy, McKay and Tenove (2021) and
Ahler and Sood (2018) believe that public
information policy to counter disinformation
should be based on factors and logic, moral
respect of listeners and democratic inclusiveness.
Reviewing EU information legislation and legal
European instruments to contain, mitigate or
neutralize hybrid threats, Lonardo (2021) and
Halbert (2016) note that disinformation creates a
cyber threat to destabilize a political opponent.
EU information legislation should consider the
interests of the public and private sectors, which
are vital for countering disinformation.
Analysing the European legal mechanisms for
combating disinformation, Monti (2020b)
believes it is necessary to fight against false news
by involving journalists. This method enables
regulating the level of false news in the
information space through trust in journalistic
investigations, thereby not violating freedom of
speech. Investigating Taiwan’s state information
policy and its means of countering
disinformation, it was concluded that fake news
destabilizes the political situation in the state by
causing anti-social public behaviour (Chen,
2021; Rak, 2022).
Examining the impact of fake news on society
and the means of protecting information security
in Germany, Colomina and Pérez-Soler (2022)
and Kutscher (2022) note that disinformation is a
threat to the state's political regime. The reason is
that unreliable information in cyberspace
undermines the basic scientific information
necessary for effective decision-making
processes. Studying the digital regulation of the
EU, Cendic and Gosztonyi (2022) state that for
most countries of the world, Internet regulation
has become one of the main priorities of the
political order, albeit with different solutions,
from Australia through Germany and Canada to
Poland and Hungary. Monti (2020a) and
Krzywoń (2021) studied information security
threats and countermeasures in Italy. According
to them, disinformation is a manifestation of the
violation of the freedom of information paradigm
and, unfortunately, appears as a tool through the
mass use of fake news by populist movements.
The Italian legal system that regulates the
information sphere is based on the observance of
constitutional human rights - the right to receive
information. Examining Singapore’s Protection
from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation
Act (POFMA), Teo (2021) and Carson and
Gibbons (2023) note that enforcement of the
Act’s provisions demonstrates its effectiveness in
combating misinformation in cyberspace.
According to the researchers, POFMA’s
effectiveness is evidenced by the fact that the
government was entrusted with the main powers
for anti-fake news functions. POFMA
empowered the government to challenge
wrongdoing by civil society on the Internet,
which helped build resistance against online
censorship. POFMA also provides participation
in online political discussions in cyberspace,
which contributed to controlling the spread of
fake political information.
However, despite a fairly wide range of studies
on this issue, the issues of countering and
combating disinformation as the main task of the
state information policy remain poorly studies.
The key contradiction in considering
disinformation as a threat to democracy is that
excessively strict actions of the state aimed at
limiting disinformation can affect basic rights
and freedoms, particularly freedom of speech and
the right to information. Therefore, states' efforts
in the field of information policy should be aimed
at forming mechanisms for countering
disinformation, which can balance human rights
and freedoms with the necessary restrictions.
Scientific studies of successful foreign
experiences and means of "soft power" can
contribute to the resolution of this contradiction
and significantly help governments develop
effective countermeasures against
disinformation.
Methods and materials
The research design of this study included three
stages. The first stage provided a review of the
academic literature on the importance of
disinformation problem. The provisions of
international human rights and freedoms
standards, European standards for combating
disinformation, and norms of national legislation
of EU countries on combating fakes on the
Internet, including social networks, were
selected. The materials of sociological surveys
on the social values of the European community
were selected for the assessment of the state’s
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ability to take measures to ensure information
security.
The second stage involved theoretical and
experimental research by comparing their results
and analysing discrepancies. The provisions of
the European Convention on Human Rights
(European Convention on Human Rights, 1950)
for assessing the consequences of disinformation
on a democratic society and the content of
disinformation are considered. The provisions of
the EU Action Plan against Disinformation
(European Commission, 2018) in terms of the
assessment of the state information policy and its
countermeasures against disinformation were
considered. The provisions of the Resolution
Parliamentary Assembly, Recommendation
CM/Rec(2018)2 (Council of Europe, 2018) and
CM/Rec(2020)1 in terms of the assessment of the
European systems of anti-rail news tools were
also studied. The content of disinformation and
its influence on the development of state
information policy are revealed by comparing the
norms of the European Convention on Human
Rights with the fact of violation of human rights
and freedoms during the spread of controlled
circulation of disinformation containing
elements of anti-democratic views. The means of
countering disinformation were assessed through
the analysis of the practice of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe and the
norms of national legislation.
The third stage involved systematizing criteria
for evaluating public opinion regarding state
borders, taking measures in the interests of
national security, and discussing disinformation's
impact on the information policy development in
a legal democratic state using Microsoft Office.
The materials were analysed to fulfil the research
objectives, and the research results were
presented.
Comparative analysis was used to analyse data
on disinformation and its consequences for a
legal democratic state. Among other things, this
method made it possible to reveal the essence of
misinformation by comparing two categories -
unreliable information and information containing
true and false facts. The survey results of
European countries' public values were analysed
through a system logical method to assess the
state’s right to take measures to ensure
information security in cyberspace. This made it
possible to determine the extent to which each of
the studied nations allows state intervention to
ensure information security. Empirical and
theoretical methods were combined for an
empirical interpretation of the theory and a
theoretical interpretation of empirical data. In
addition, this method made it possible to reveal the
legal basis for taking countermeasures and
combating fake news, propaganda and
disinformation in cyberspace by researching the
regulatory and legal framework. The doctrinal
analysis of studies on the issues of information
policy development and information security
strategies determined the effectiveness of the
state information policy with disinformation on
the Internet. Using this method, the most effective
measures to counter disinformation were identified,
which were determined by scientists considering
the practical results of their implementation.
The sample was:
• the general characteristics of disinformation
and its consequences for the state;
understanding of informational cyberspace
and social networks as the main space for
spreading disinformation;
• assessment of Europeans regarding the
state’s right to take measures to ensure
information security in cyberspace;
• the system of international human rights and
freedoms violated by disinformation;
• anti-fake strategies and state information
policy of the European Union;
• system of legal measures against fake news
on the Internet;
• national legislation of European countries in
the field of countering and combating
disinformation;
• the practice of countering the circulation of
fake news on social networks.
The totality of the study of these objects
contributed revealed the content of the state
information policy through the prism of the
problems of countering and combating the
circulation of disinformation in cyberspace.
The research was based on the provisions of the
following documents: European Convention on
Human Rights (European Convention on Human
Rights, 1950), EU Action Plan against
Disinformation (European Commission, 2018),
Resolution Parliamentary Assembly
“Democracy hacked? How to respond?”
(Parliamentary Assembly, 2020),
Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)2 (Council of
Europe, 2018) on the roles and responsibilities of
Internet intermediaries and Recommendation
CM/Rec(2020)1 on the human rights impacts of
algorithmic systems. The provisions of the
national legislation of the EU countries: Code of
Practice on Disinformation and the Law “On the
Regulation of Social Networks” (Germany)
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(Federal Ministry of Justice, 2017), Law on
Combating Information Manipulation (France),
Anti-Fake Law (Great Britain). Besides, the
research was carried out based on the practice of
the joint unit of Great Britain with Poland for
countering Russian disinformation and
propaganda, the results of a sociological survey
by the Ukrainian Centre for European Politics
with the support of the World Values Survey.
Results
A comprehensive approach to understanding
information cyberspace and the impact of
disinformation on digital content (Figure 1) is
key to creating a safe environment conducive to
freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by
Article 10 of the European Convention on
Human Rights (European Convention on Human
Rights, 1950).
Figure 1. Concept and content of disinformation
Source: created by the author
Every citizen has the right to freely express
his/her views without the interference of state
authorities. The state is obliged to create safe
conditions for receiving and transferring
information to every citizen. In other cases, the
state is empowered to take information security
measures. In other words, when such information
is disinformation and carries a threat to national
security, territorial integrity, public safety, calls
for public disturbances or crimes, harms health or
morals, leads to the disclosure of confidential
information or the impartiality of the court, and
generally harms reputation or rights of others.
Therefore, to establish a democratic society in
the interests of information security, each state
undertakes to implement a system of effective
legal mechanisms to counter such
misinformation. However, public opinion
regarding the assessment of disinformation and
its consequences for the state is ambiguous
(Table 1).
Unintentionally wrong
information (error about date,
time or place)
Intentionally disclosed
information to cause harm or
blackmail
Disinformation
Unreliable information
Information containing
true and false facts
Intentionally
created
manipulative
information
(gossip, plot).
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Table 1.
Assessment of the right of the state to take measures
to ensure information security in cyberspace, 2020.
Country
Can the state collect information
about a person without his/her
knowledge?
Country
Can the government monitor e-
mail or any other information that
a person exchanges on the
Internet?
Yes
No
Difficult to
answer
Yes
No
Difficult to
answer
Poland
4.5%
93.3%
2.2%
Poland
9.4%
86.6%
4.0%
Lithuania
8.4%
85.8%
5.8%
Lithuania
10.5%
82.8%
6.7%
Czech Republic
9.4%
87.9%
2.7%
Estonia
11.2%
83.6%
5.2%
Bulgaria
12%
81.7%
6.3%
Czech
Republic
11.2%
85%
3.8%
Hungary
12.3%
85.9%
1.8%
Slovenia
11.6%
85.2%
3.6%
Slovenia
13.5%
83.8%
2.7%
Ukraine
12.9%
78.1%
9.0%
Germany
14.3%
83.5%
2.2%
Hungary
14.3%
82.1%
3.6%
Slovakia
14.3%
82.9%
2.8%
Croatia
14.7%
80.6%
4.7%
Austria
15.4%
81.9%
2.7%
Greece
15.0%
82%
3.0%
Estonia
16.9%
79.6%
3.5%
Slovakia
16.9%
79.9%
3.2%
Romania
16.9%
75.2%
7.9%
Cyprus
20.2%
73.4%
6.4%
Greece
17.1%
79.3%
3.6%
Bulgaria
20.4%
66.9%
12.7%
Croatia
18.1%
78.5%
3.4%
Romania
21.4%
69.2%
9.4%
Ukraine
18.3%
73.5%
8.2%
Austria
21.7%
74.8%
3.5%
Sweden
20.2%
77.7%
2.1%
Denmark
23.0%
76.2%
0.8%
France
21.8%
75.2%
3.0%
Germany
25.5%
71.8%
2.7%
Cyprus
24.9%
69.5%
5.6%
Italy
26.3%
67.9%
5.8%
Denmark
27%
72.4%
0.6%
Sweden
28.8%
96.3%
1.9%
Italy
29.3%
67.3%
3.4%
France
30.3%
65.9%
3.8%
Netherlands
31.1%
64%
4.9%
Spain
30.7%
65.7%
3.6%
Spain
32.3%
64.2%
3.5%
Netherlands
35%
60.4%
4.6%
Finland
36.3%
61.3%
2.4%
Finland
40.3%
56.4%
3.3%
Source: developed by the author based on Akulenko et al. (2020)
The search for an anti-fake strategy has become a
priority for many democratic countries given the
need to implement effective measures to hinder the
spread of disinformation, which threatens national
interests. This is especially relevant for EU member
states, which have already experienced negative
external informational influences of various kinds.
In 2018, the EU introduced its own legal
mechanism for countering and combating
disinformation — Action Plan against
Disinformation (European Commission, 2018). The
Plan considers the spread of disinformation through
television, journalistic publications, and social
networks, currently the most favoured centres for
distributing fake news. The European information
policy is aimed at ensuring the transparency and
credibility of mass media in cyberspace, creating a
Code of Practice for digital platforms to facilitate
the establishment of transparent private political
content and establishing mechanisms to counter and
combat chatbots. As a result, it will improve media
literacy among the residents of the European Union
and reduce the level of cyber threats during the
election process.
The European anti-disinformation policy
includes some international standards on
information security: Resolution of the CoE’s
Parliamentary Assembly “Democracy hacked?
How to respond?” (Parliamentary Assembly,
2020), Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)2
(Council of Europe, 2018) on the roles and
responsibilities of internet intermediaries and
Recommendation CM/Rec(2020)1 on the human
rights impacts of algorithmic systems. The task
of the Resolution Parliamentary Assembly is to
stop the flow of disinformation that creates anti-
social opinion and manipulates and foreign
interference in the election process by creating an
effective system of countermeasures against fake
news (Figure 2). Therefore, EU member states
introduce their own state information policy,
including countermeasures against
disinformation. These measures will be effective
provided their legality (as an element of the
democratic rule of law), openness and constant
control by the government and national civil
society institutions.
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Figure 2. System of countermeasures against disinformation.
Source: developed by the author based on Parliamentary Assembly (2020)
Ignoring the consequences of disinformation and
its uncontrolled circulation in cyberspace
contributes to shaping anti-social public
behaviour and anti-political attitudes in society.
Such consequences threaten the national security
of the state, its democracy, territorial integrity
and sovereignty. The search for anti-fake
measures has become a priority for most
countries, given the need to create safe content
and implement an effective system for
countering the spread of fake information, which
threatens national interests. Paradoxically, one of
these measures is the digital information
environment itself, which creates fake news.
Cyberspace, including social networks
Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Reddit,
Microsoft, and LinkedIn, is currently a priority
source of communication and information for
most people. Social networks are positioned as
the main source of information due to their
multifunctionality, which is related to the
possibility of structuring the communicative
space and objectively promoting the
development of civil society.
International information standards to combat
fake news and disinformation oblige developers
of social networks and digital platforms to create
accessible and safe content for society.
Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)2 (Council of
Europe, 2018) obliges software developers to
ensure secure content by exercising user control.
Such control is exercised by automatically
processing users’ personal data for further access
to information on the Internet, which they can
later compare with traditional mass media. To
create safe content on the Internet, EU countries
are implementing various information security
strategies that will protect people’s rights to free
access to cyberspace, where they can freely
participate in public debates and express their
own thoughts and ideas without fear, harassment
or persecution.
For example, Germany is one of the first EU
countries to adopt countermeasures against
disinformation at the legislative level. In 2017, it
adopted the Law “On the Regulation of Social
Networks” (Federal Ministry of Justice, 2017),
according to which social networks began to be
positioned as commercial telecommunications
service providers that involve digital platforms
for the use and exchange of information. Besides,
the developers of such social networks were
obliged to inform the competent authorities in the
event of recording disinformation. In 2018,
Germany approved the Code of Practice for
Countering Disinformation on the Internet,
strengthening countermeasures against
disinformation threatening national security
interests. In terms of content, the Code is a
system of obligations for developers of digital
platforms and associations on which advertising
products are placed to voluntarily apply
countermeasures against disinformation and
propaganda.
In the same year, 2018, France and Great Britain
also introduced legal mechanisms to fight
disinformation at the state level. France adopted
the law to combat information manipulation.
This regulation establishes a state regulator that
monitors the flow of information in cyberspace,
including social networks. In case of finding
disinformation spread in social networks, which
may possibly affect the public consciousness, the
competent national authorities are authorized to
stop and remove such fake information without a
court decision. Great Britain approved the Anti-
Fake Act, which marked the beginning of
information policy development. Great Britain
also formed a unit to counter Russian
disinformation and propaganda jointly with
Poland. This body has become a consultative
centre for minimizing the risks of the influence
of fake activities of the Russian mass media in
cyberspace.
Ensuring transparency of digital
platforms Improving media literacy
Ensuring the introduction of public
control over the activities of institutes
engage in the information sphere
Establishing responsibility for spreading
disinformation
Information policy
countermeasures
against disinformation
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The high public trust in social networks becomes
a space for cybercriminals in which they
intensively spread propaganda and fakes.
Therefore, law enforcement officers combat
disinformation by actively using digital social
content to spread reliable information and
challenge fake news, to build awareness and
social behaviour aimed at not committing illegal
actions, which will ultimately contribute to
improving the criminogenic situation.
Discussion
The inefficiency of the state information policy
and the rapid development of cyberspace
facilitate the spread of fake news. Ignoring
misinformation and its consequences for the state
entails forming antisocial behaviour in society.
The absence of an effective system of legal
means of countering and combating
disinformation endangers the sovereignty of the
rule of law and its democracy.
Public misinformation in the information space is
a threat to the development of a legal democratic
state (Tenove, 2020; Allcott et al., 2019). Miller
and Vaccari (2020) support this position. In his
opinion, public information fakes in the modern
digital world become a means of propaganda and
information warfare. Multimedia disinformation
is a highly adaptable tool used in tandem with
cyber operations. It occupies a special place in
the information environment of democratic states
(Whyte, 2020; Clayton et al., 2019). Rapp and
Salovich (2018) state that overcoming public
information fakes requires establishing effective
tools of the state information policy to counter
and fight against false information in cyberspace.
Disinformation is a factor in the stagnation of the
development of a democratic society, as it
promotes anti-social behaviour, including
aggressive lies and psychological slander
(McKay & Tenove, 2021; Ahler & Sood, 2018).
Disinformation is a tool of cybercrime to
destabilize a political opponent (Lonardo, 2021).
Misinformation in cyberspace exacerbates
problems of trust in digital spaces and limits
access to reliable data (Teo, 2021; Vese, 2022).
Novais (2021) and Bayer et al. (2019) claimed
that ineffective countermeasures against
disinformation become the basis for shaping
antisocial behaviour in society. For example,
using disinformation through coverage of false
information and public harassment contributed to
the discrediting of a political opponent during
presidential campaigns in Cape Verde.
The effectiveness of the state information policy
in countering disinformation is manifested not
through the establishment of tools to destroy fake
news but through their control and regulation.
The establishment of legal tools to combat
disinformation should be based on the
observance of freedom of speech and soft
measures to combat false information in
cyberspace. The effectiveness of
countermeasures against fakes will depend on the
fact-checking of citizens and the support of
society depending on their level of education and
training (Chen, 2021). Monti (2020b) noted that
countering disinformation is possible only by
establishing Internet liability — criminal liability
for the spread of misinformation on the Internet.
Digital platforms that provide information
services in cyberspace worldwide do not allocate
significant resources to protect their own
economic interests and establish means of
countering false news (Cendic &
Gosztonyi, 2022).
The conducted analysis of ensuring information
security because of the threat of disinformation
gives grounds to note that researchers consider it
appropriate to further study disinformation as a
threat to information and national security, which
generally adjusts the content and directions of the
development of the information sphere.
Conclusions
The state information policy for combating
disinformation is a system of political, technical,
organizational, and socio-economic measures
aimed at identifying unreliable, manipulative
information that is a threat to the state's national
security and removing it from the information
space. Based on the results of the analysis carried
out in the study, the following recommendations
can be formulated for countering disinformation
in the field of information policy:
• ensure transparency of digital platforms
through proper regulation and incentives;
• implement specialized campaigns aimed at
increasing the level of media literacy of the
population, motivating the population to
perceive information critically, fact-
checking;
• to ensure public control over the activities of
information sphere institutes;
• establish responsibility for spreading
disinformation.
These recommendations should be emphasised to
maintain a balance between freedom of speech
and measures to counter disinformation, which is
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made possible by using "soft power". These
measures will be effective, provided their
legality, transparency, and accessibility for
Internet users. The main tool of the state
information policy for combating fake news is
the information space of digital platforms and
social networks, where law enforcement officers
distribute reliable information and challenge fake
news.
The prospect for further research is the
development of practical recommendations for
improving the sphere of observance of human
rights and freedoms for the free and safe
expression of one’s views on the Internet. It is the
empirical research and theoretico-
methodological substantiation of effective
mechanisms for countering and combating
disinformation at the national level. The obtained
results can be used to develop effective ways to
overcome the uncontrolled circulation of fake
news in cyberspace.
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