Greece’s government spokesman on Wednesday himself made headlines by saying the time has come to “start a discussion on abolishing anonymity on the internet,” essentially “jumping into the fray” of one of the most divisive and complex issues of the digital age.

Speaking at an event entitled “Athens Alitheia Forum: Misinformation, Fake News, and Toxic Public Discourse”, government spokesperson Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Pavlos Marinakis made the statement while speaking in a panel discussion entitled “Institutions, Transparency and Tackling Disinformation”.

The event was organized by the General Secretariat for Communication and Information, which operates under Marinakis’ ministry. “Alitheia” in Greek means “truth”.

Referring to the findings of a recent survey on fake news presented earlier at the same conference, Marinakis said the data illustrate the magnitude of the problem, as he said.

“More than 80% of people in the country believe that disinformation constitutes a major crisis. More than 50% admitted that they have at some point believed a false news story.”

At the same time, the government spokesman admitted that tackling disinformation is a complex challenge for modern democracies.

“Falsehood is attractive and spreads very quickly. Truth requires arguments, documentation and evidence,” he said, underlining that efforts to strengthen transparency and the credibility of information must continue.

Mitsotakis’ address

In closing out the conference, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hinted at upcoming announcements on restricting social media access for minors under 15 expected by the end of the month.

He also linked the protection of minors online with the need to address anonymity and digital toxicity on the internet.

Referring to disinformation, the Greek prime minister  noted that fake news is not a new phenomenon, but argued that the mechanism through which it spreads has fundamentally changed.

“Fake news has always existed; what has changed now is the mechanism. There is a business model based on understanding how the human brain works. The relevant platforms increase what is known as engagement,” he said.

He also stressed that false or fake news exists, but there is no such thing as a ‘false opinion’, warning that when combined with the capabilities offered by artificial intelligence, there is a risk of creating an “explosive cocktail” that could poison the public domain.

The last panel discussion below, in Greek: