KEY CONCEPTS

A conspiracy theory is a structured body of hypotheses and arguments that are manipulated to support a narrative, ideology, or discourse to make it seem logical and consistent. The aim is to try and prove the existence of a small group of powerful people that are secretly planning illegal and harmful acts to influence the course of events.

Conspiracy theories claim that their goal is to expose the ‘truth’ and solve a ‘mystery’. In reality, though, they are usually a way of rejecting official discourse and ‘the system’, it is ‘contrarian’, defiant discourse. These theories adopt a view that is one-sided and simplistic (Good versus Evil) that disregards the world’s complexity.

Conspiracy theories generally emerge in the wake of major or traumatic events (attacks, accidents, wars, epidemics, economic crises) in order to give them a simple and satisfying explanation.

CASE IN POINT

Conspiracy theory example: The breakup of Yugoslavia

In the Balkans, there is a staggering variety of rumours circulating to explain the 1991 breakup of Yugoslavia. In many countries, there is a widespread myth that claims the breakup was the result of purposeful intervention by foreign powers. Some allege that the CIA continued to go after socialist regimes in the Balkans after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Others accuse Germany or the Vatican of allying themselves with the Croatian Catholic Church for various reasons. In this case, the conspiracy theories do the following:

• Explain the events in a manner that is simplistic, easy to understand, and acceptable to everyone.
• Present one’s own side as the victim of global and regional events, creating a sense of injustice and outrage.
• Blame major political events on external forces, absolving oneself of any and all responsibility.

In reality, historians say that, like most politico-historical events of this scale, the breakup of Yugoslavia was caused by a combination of factors, most of which were internal: the economic crisis that had been affecting the country since the second oil crisis of 1979, aggravated rivalries among the republics, etc.

KEY CONCEPTS

The term ‘hate speech’ refers to expressions of hatred that may take the form of a statement, article, sound bite, image, or video that conveys rejection, hatred, or fear of the ‘other’ and is hurtful to the people targeted by it, thus encouraging feelings of hatred.

When hate speech is public, it can incite those who witness it to feel hatred towards others, choose their side, and, due to group mentality, sometimes to express hatred themselves that is equally violent if not more so. This is called inciting hatred.

In general, online hate speech denigrates a minority group’s ethnicity, skin colour, sex, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, or world view in order to rouse hostility and discrimination towards them. The internet and social media contribute to the spread of hate speech because people interact virtually on them rather than face-to-face. Moreover, hateful content that is posted online gets more attention and spreads more widely.

In the absence of a critical eye, this type of content, which stems from prejudice, fear, and misconceptions leads to increasingly violent discourse that turns a particular group into a scapegoat deserving of blame, which leads to sweeping generalisations, and paranoia. Fake news on social media are a major factor in the spread of this hateful, violent speech.

CASE IN POINT

In 2019, nearly every media outlet in Bosnia and Herzegovina picked up a social media rumour stating that ‘Migrants attacked a minor near Sarajevo railway station’. In fact, however, an investigation by Sarajevo police showed that the rumour stemmed from information manipulated by ill-intentioned people who wanted to stoke hatred against migrants in the country. Starting with the victim’s father, people started saying that the attack was perpetrated by migrants even though there was no way they could have known that, thus starting the rumour.

This mendacious hate speech first emerged when one of the country’s most popular websites, Klix.ba, published an item about an alleged attack by migrants on a young man of 17 in Sarajevo. Accompanying the item was a photo showing a battered person in a dark alley. After investigating, however the police established not only that the attack had not been perpetrated by ‘migrants’, but also that it did not even happen where the website initially said it had, that is, near the railway station.

Using fake news to denigrate migrants in this way is common in the Balkans, both in newspapers and on social media.

KEY CONCEPTS

Fact checking is a practice that involves verifying in real time whether the facts politicians, public figures, and experts present to the media are true and their numbers are correct.

Fact checking is also a way of assessing the level of objectivity in the media’s treatment of information. It has become common practice in recent years in order to fight the spread of fake news.

Verifying facts has proven to be indispensable with the growth of digital technology and social media for two reasons: firstly, it has become increasingly less difficult to manipulate information and images; secondly, it is also very easy to achieve massive spread with social media (every minute, 350,000 tweets are posted to Twitter).

Fact checking may be a good tool to help us distinguish truth from fiction, but it is not impossible for the journalists who do the fact checking to get things wrong or simply not be able to truly verify some facts. Once again, caution is to be encouraged and critical thinking engaged so that you can figure out when to trust a media fact checker and when to get a broader view of an issue.

CASE IN POINT

In most countries, there are media outlets or entities that specialise in fact checking, sometimes focussing on particular topics (international affairs, science, environment, etc.). The Balkans region has a number of fact-checking bodies:

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Raskrinkavanje.ba

Montenegro: Raskrinkavanje.me

North Macedonia: Metamorphosis Foundation

Serbia: Istinomer

Albania: https://faktoje.al/

It is also worth noting that some outlets have increased their activities and partnerships in light of the barrage of fake news unleashed during the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, Facebook has launched a programme to ‘check facts and fight misinformation’ that comprises 70 certified fact-checking bodies from around the world. Articles identified as fake are demoted to the bottom of the newsfeed. Once demoted, the average number of views for these fake news items decreases by over 80%.