Regulatory Responses to Disinformation and Cybersecurity Threats in Europe

Since 1995[1], some not-so-new (but wholly refurbished and transformed) “disorders” have reappeared linked to technology and, more specifically, to digital platforms. Propaganda, fake news, and similar are part of a vast catalogue of phenomena reshaping public opinion. The disorders term has been neatly described by Wardle and Derakhshan[1], who makes the difference between mis-, dis-, and mal-information and creates an interesting proposal based on an element matrix. They use the harm and falseness dimensions to make the boundaries between these types of information. Companies like Meta (formerly Facebook), Twitter, and TikTok are involved in the massive use and range of capability of their tools to target selected high-spreading hubs to get digested messages (mainly commercial but also some others related with the social and political space). According to Eurostat data[2], social media are the primary medium of choice for reading news for young people (aged 16-29 years). Data state that is the preferred option for 69% of them. That seems entirely organic when 95% use the internet daily. Technology has always been in the eye of countries, especially concerning their security. We remember how the Internet was formerly known as Arpanet, a military project. Its evolution has grounded topics like the cyberthreat one, primarily regarding systemic risks. In them, disinformation has its place, as it can have several civil or military impacts.