Sweden fights misinformation with a psychological defense body
Sweden has launched a new government agency that aims to strengthen the country’s “psychological defenses” and counter disinformation.
Called the Psychological Defense Authority, it was launched with a new website on Saturday.
“The purpose of the psychological defense is to protect our open and democratic society, the free formation of opinion and Sweden’s freedom and independence,” it says on the website on a page that describes its mission.
The website added that the misleading information they want to combat “may be misinformation aimed at weakening the country’s resilience and the people’s willingness to defend themselves or to unnecessarily influence people’s perceptions, behaviors and decision – making.”
The agency, which is based in Carlsbad, explained that misleading information can “create anxiety, increase hatred and doubt and make society more vulnerable.”
They also warned that many people who repeat misinformation online are unaware that they are wrong, and that it is important to be critical of sources when sharing information online.
“Actors in and outside Sweden with an agenda to damage confidence in Sweden and its open democratic society use methods such as anxiety and polarizing societal issues as a platform for this,” the authority stated.
During the pandemic, many countries have made statements that try to counter disinformation because inaccuracies related to covid-19 have spread online, resulting in movements such as those that spread anti-masking sentiment.
The World Health Organization called it a “infodemic”In September 2020.
Sweden is just one of several European countries that have changed or added their counter-disinformation strategies during the pandemic, according to a report from the Hague Program on CyberNorms, which stated that France, Germany and the United Kingdom, among others, also updated their policies.
Sweden has been an outlier among European countries for choosing not to implement closures and relying on more voluntary measures such as physical distancing, a response that has been criticized internationally and nationally. The country’s death toll for covid-19 per capita has been much higher than its Scandinavian neighbors throughout the pandemic.
According to their website, Sweden’s new agency will include three departments: an administrative department to provide support, an operational department to identify and respond to “misleading information directed at Sweden or Swedish interests”, and a capacity building department to provide support to existing agencies to strengthen their psychological defenses.
The website noted that freedom of expression and expression is protected by the Constitution and that the new authority will not interfere with it.
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