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Disinformation - An existential threat to European democracy?

Nyqvist, Helena LU (2023) STVK02 20231
Department of Political Science
Abstract
In recent years the unprecedented spread of disinformation on online platforms, along with declining trust in government, journalism, and institutions, has consequently led the EU to regard disinformation as an urgent threat to democracy. To address the threat the EU decided in 2022 on the groundbreaking Digital Services Act (DSA) legislation, targeting digital platforms. However, the complexity of enforcing measures against disinformation without impacting freedom of expression raises questions of how the EU reached this policy decision. By applying the theory of securitisation and the discourse analytical WPR-approach this paper explores how the EU has attempted to securitize disinformation as a threat to democracy in the policy... (More)
In recent years the unprecedented spread of disinformation on online platforms, along with declining trust in government, journalism, and institutions, has consequently led the EU to regard disinformation as an urgent threat to democracy. To address the threat the EU decided in 2022 on the groundbreaking Digital Services Act (DSA) legislation, targeting digital platforms. However, the complexity of enforcing measures against disinformation without impacting freedom of expression raises questions of how the EU reached this policy decision. By applying the theory of securitisation and the discourse analytical WPR-approach this paper explores how the EU has attempted to securitize disinformation as a threat to democracy in the policy discourse, and what has been left unproblematized in the framing of the threat. The findings show the EU has collectively attempted to securitize disinformation as an existential, predominantly external threat to democracy. However, as the DSA and other related measures do not meet the theory’s requirements of being extraordinary, it led to the conclusion that this does not constitute a successful case of securitisation. The findings further show how the problematization of foreign disinformation, particularly concerning Russia as the primary threat, has overshadowed and left the role of domestic disinformation rather unproblematized in the policy discourse. (Less)
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author
Nyqvist, Helena LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK02 20231
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Disinformation, Securitisation, Policy discourse, European Union, Digital Services Act
language
English
id
9115602
date added to LUP
2023-08-18 15:44:04
date last changed
2023-08-18 15:44:04
@misc{9115602,
  abstract     = {{In recent years the unprecedented spread of disinformation on online platforms, along with declining trust in government, journalism, and institutions, has consequently led the EU to regard disinformation as an urgent threat to democracy. To address the threat the EU decided in 2022 on the groundbreaking Digital Services Act (DSA) legislation, targeting digital platforms. However, the complexity of enforcing measures against disinformation without impacting freedom of expression raises questions of how the EU reached this policy decision. By applying the theory of securitisation and the discourse analytical WPR-approach this paper explores how the EU has attempted to securitize disinformation as a threat to democracy in the policy discourse, and what has been left unproblematized in the framing of the threat. The findings show the EU has collectively attempted to securitize disinformation as an existential, predominantly external threat to democracy. However, as the DSA and other related measures do not meet the theory’s requirements of being extraordinary, it led to the conclusion that this does not constitute a successful case of securitisation. The findings further show how the problematization of foreign disinformation, particularly concerning Russia as the primary threat, has overshadowed and left the role of domestic disinformation rather unproblematized in the policy discourse.}},
  author       = {{Nyqvist, Helena}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Disinformation - An existential threat to European democracy?}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}