At the opening of the panel "Methods to Combat Disinformation in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" held by the Presidency's Directorate of Communications, Presidency's Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun stated, "The final and maybe most destructive weapon of the evil parties battling to preserve their influence in the global arena is the politics of systematic disinformation."
Director of Communications Altun emphasised that the concept of disinformation has been used frequently in Türkiye over the past few years and indicated that this is because Türkiye has been one of the countries most affected by disinformation in the international arena and has recently waged a fierce struggle against this threat.
Director of Communications Altun underlined that disinformation has become a virus that affects the entire humanity and poses a threat to social existence, which should be founded on clear and accurate communication.
Director of Communications Altun emphasised that fake news is not just a problem of the present and added that with the institutionalisation of modern media, humanity is faced with the issue of fake news.
"Both the history of politics and communication are replete with media outlets resorting to fake news"
Director of Communications Altun stated that both the history of politics and communication are replete with media outlets resorting to fake news in their struggle for power, adding that fake news was a professional sin, an exception and a tool for malicious purposes in the analogue period, when traditional media prevailed.
Director of Communications Altun highlighted that media outlets attempted to prevent the spread of fake news prior to the advent of digital media through distinct control mechanisms and due to self-esteem concerns and continued:
"Even though there have been problematic processes inside the media's own dynamics, we are aware that manipulative journalism based on fake news has historically resulted in unfavourable outcomes in terms of professional reputation and career. With the advent of the new media, however, the situation has changed, and the media's professional principles and self-esteem concerns no longer have institutional parallels. Today, we inhabit a media system, an ecosystem in which fake news has become mundane. Disinformation has become the main concept and even the main value of this era. We are living in a time when the war is not fought for information, but rather for disinformation."
"We see that journalism may be done to gain more ratings"
Commenting on today's media landscape, Director of Communications Altun noted:
"We observe chaos and normlessness in an environment where the majority of people readily identify as journalists and content creators. We see that journalism may be done not to reflect reality, but to gain more sensation, more ratings, and more popularity. As a result, disinformation becomes one of the main elements that should be paid the most attention to and problematised in social life. For instance, in the past few days, we have all witnessed the lies and distortions that have been fictionalised over an expression dictated to an innocent child by a so-called journalist. Unfortunately, we have seen the attempts to gain political advantage by clinging to this lie. This incident has revealed the grave threat to our democracy and social peace posed by those who cling to lies and disinformation for the sake of their ideological and political fixations. The recent incident has shown how important the fight against all kinds of disinformation activities is for our society.
Calling on the media to show the necessary effort to prevent such incidents from happening again, Director of Communications Altun said, "I would like to thank everyone who revealed the truth and all members of the press who fought against this piece of deliberately misleading and provocative disinformation. I would also like to thank my colleagues who endeavoured to clarify the background of this incident."
"Social media platforms have exacerbated global injustice."
Director of Communications Altun said that the global community originally assumed that it had attained a democratic communications environment when social media platforms first rose to prominence, but this was far from the truth.
Director of Communications Altun further stated, “Social media platforms have promoted anti-democratic trends in the global arena, exacerbated global injustice, consolidated the Western colonial order and the pro-Western system of dependency, and served this purpose. This proved to be a purely chaotic process, rather than the establishment of an open communication environment in the global arena based on negotiation and mutual interaction.”
Citing the performances of anonymous actors as one of the most key causes of the chaos in social media, Director of Communications Altun said that this environment carries with it an ecosystem where lies have become routine.
Noting that there is no problem stemming from individual preferences, Director of Communications Altun remarked that there is an industry and actors that methodically, and willfully, act behind this industry.
Director of Communications Altun reported that the industry and its actors are currently attempting to use disinformation to dominate national policies and international relations. He added that those actors have expanded their efforts and made technological investments that will make disinformation processes more effective, faster, and permanent through the activation of various artificial intelligence processes and the use of algorithms.
"We are facing an algorithmic dictatorship run by social media giants, as well as a rising digital fascism that is taking root in the environment they created," said the Director of Communications, adding that in this environment, people are imprisoned in their own ghettos with more lies, and they are confined in echo chambers where they cannot hear the voice of truth.
“It is impossible to talk about an individual's freedom of thought if s/he is denied access to reliable news”
Continuing his evaluation of the current situation, Director of Communications Altun stated:
“We observe that desired messages are given priority while undesirable messages are brushed aside. In such an environment, it is impossible to have a genuine discussion on freedom of speech, freedom of thought, or human rights, because, at the core of all of this is an individual's right to access reliable news. It is impossible to talk about an individual's freedom of thought if s/he is denied access to reliable news. So, what is the purpose of these institutions and organisations, as well as social media platforms? Influencing political decision-making and moulding our patterns of consumption. It is highly critical that we be aware of both of these points. The fact that we are aware of these two points demonstrates that we must absolutely resist the attempts of these huge corporations to enslave individuals. The final and maybe most destructive weapon of the evil parties battling to preserve their influence in the global arena while occupying a substantial portion of the world physically and intellectually since the Cold War is disinformation, more specifically, systematic disinformation politics.”
Director of Communications Altun said that everyone noticed how social media channels were used in political and cultural operations against countries with high influence that act on their own behalf and account, such as Türkiye, without succumbing to global forces. He also pointed out that the new Twitter executives, with their disclosures on past Twitter executives, demonstrate how social media networks are utilised for manipulation and disinformation.
Director of Communications Altun’s call to Elon Musk
On the occasion of this event, Director of Communications Altun addressed the new Twitter executives and Elon Musk, stating:
“Please disclose what types of interventions in Türkiye's political life have occurred in the past via Twitter. Expose the nature of the hidden visibility filtering applied to Our President's and our personal social media accounts. Explain the systematic nature of the propaganda opportunities made available to Türkiye's adversaries, terrorist organisations, as well as the systematic motivation behind them. Explain so that the hybrid methods of neocolonialism are evident to the entire global public. Explain so that we may once again have faith in social media platforms as channels of communication."
Director of Communications Altun stated that they understand how important and strategic the fight against disinformation is, and that Türkiye is the country most exposed to disinformation in the international arena today.
Stating that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan established the Presidency’s Directorate of Communications and assigned them to ensure that the state can effectively combat disinformation, Director of Communications Altun said, “This fight is being carried out in a systematic manner by our Centre for Combating Disinformation, Department of Strategic Communication and Crisis Management, and all our relevant units. Again, all of our state's institutions and organisations are putting forward projects and initiatives in the fight against disinformation. Our goal is to build an effective capacity to combat disinformation that can be replicated on a global scale.”
Director of Communications Altun added that today, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and similar software and applications are used to spread disinformation, but they are working to broaden the field of truth against disinformation in all mediums.
Director of Communications Altun stated that at today's symposium, artificial intelligence applications, internet-based software, different processes in social media, and the OSINT method known as open source intelligence will be discussed in the fight against disinformation. He emphasised that as humanity, we must fight disinformation together.
"We will continue to speak the truth"
Director of Communications Altun stated that Türkiye is in a leading position at this point, citing human resources, knowledge, experience, and developing technological infrastructure as the most important opportunities of Türkiye in this regard.
Director of Communications Altun went on to say,
“We stand firm against the global order, which is using social media to occupy our minds and take away our freedom and sovereignty. We are addressing them from here. Türkiye will continue to oppose all forms of disinformation and to speak the truth. Let them conceal as much as they want. Let them hide behind fancy platforms if they so desire. We are aware of the undemocratic global order they have established, and we will not allow this unjust order to become the norm. They can infiltrate countries by telling lies. With lies, they can sink refugee ships. They can use lies to fund bloodthirsty terrorist organizations. They may attempt to stage a coup in countries with their lies. However, under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Türkiye is determined to oppose this order, fight for the truth, and destroy this malicious system. Our most valuable capital is our President's global leadership and pioneering role in the fight for truth.”
Director of Communications Altun noted that he has been witnessing President Erdoğan's international contacts since the day he took office, and said:
“Sincerely, I want it recorded in history that our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is currently the only leader fighting for truth in the global system. Our President’s struggle for truth within the global system represents an opportunity for humanity. Türkiye's greatest pride in this process will be standing up to perception management operations that pose a threat against humanity, mental manipulations, and systematic disinformation policies that only serve the interests of the dominant powers. We believe history will bear witness to this. As Türkiye raises the loudest voice against Islamophobic people in Sweden, our esteemed President takes the most firm, resolute, determined, and effective stance in the face of this incident, which has become an embarrassment to the entire world. In the fight against disinformation, we will produce benefits for all humanity, just as we can clearly distinguish between freedom of thought and attacks on the sacred through unity and solidarity.”
Communications Director Altun said that during election periods, foreign newspapers attack this struggle for the truth by criticising Türkiye and Erdoğan as if a button were pressed from a single spot. The worst part, he said, is that some groups that say they are involved in Turkish politics are counting on help from such shady operations.
Director of Communications Altun stated that media outlets that are used to conducting operations against any country that does not serve their interests, against any leader who are not dependent on them, are "null. He added, “One cannot hide the historical significance of our country's and the President's honourable struggle, nor the fact that this struggle has become the hope of the world's oppressed peoples.”
"The struggle for truth that our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is well known to the billions of people”
Director of Communications Altun said that the West's self-centred and malevolent approaches, in which it manipulates democracy, respect for ideas, freedom of expression, and human rights to serve its own interests, have nothing to offer the humanity. He went on to say, "The masks of those who link support for terrorist organisations with democracy, those who disguise and justify the attack on Islam as "freedom," have dropped. The struggle for truth that our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has waged for decades is well known to the billions of people who seek the truth despite the severe attacks, provocations, and arrogant approaches of the Western media," he said.
Director of Communications Altun stated that the Presidency's Directorate of Communications will continue to use new technological means and tactics to combat disinformation, character assassination, and manipulations.
"We are initiating a digital media literacy education campaign for the entire society in collaboration with our Ministry of National Education. We hope that by doing so, we can promote public awareness and defend the truth against disinformation. We will put pressure on social media companies to create projects and initiatives that benefit everyone.
After Director of Communications Altun's remarks, the event continued with sessions on "The Use of Technology in Combating Disinformation, Artificial Intelligence, and OSINT," "Journalism, Fake News, and Disinformation," and "Social Media, Algorithms, and Disinformation."
