“Fake News: The Factory of Lies” exhibition in Madrid explores the concept of digital disinformation and deceptive falsehoods across various historical periods. It prompts audiences to contemplate the cognitive processes that lead them to believe in things they shouldn't believe in, encouraging profound introspection.
The Factory of Lies
The exhibition titled "Fake News. The Factory of Lies" is part of the Fake News project. It is currently open for visitors at Espacio Fundación Telefónica in Madrid, starting on June 15 and running until November 19.
Journalist Mario Tascón curated the exhibition, which was organized in collaboration with the National Library, CEU San Pablo University, and the Maldita.es Foundation. Its primary objectives are to tackle the phenomenon of fake news, explore its historical roots, and encourage viewers to reflect on their information consumption habits and the biases that influence their trust in certain sources or beliefs in specific messages.
Tascón asserts that while books and conferences have their merits, exhibitions serve as the ultimate didactic tool. "The Fake News" exhibition reflects this perspective by primarily presenting text and data in an engaging design, complemented by animated infographics. The exhibition also features museum pieces, both original and reproductions, dating back to Ancient Rome and the Middle Ages, illustrating the historical manipulation of information. Furthermore, the exhibition incorporates works by visual artists and includes real case studies to provide a comprehensive exploration of the subject.
Disinformation Is an Alarming Phenomenon
In recent years, the prevalence of disinformation has escalated, largely due to the relentless flow of information and hypercommunication that define the modern world. The exhibition presents compelling data highlighting the extent of information generation and consumption in today's society. For instance, in every second, users share 740,000 WhatsApp messages, 6,000 tweets, and 700 Instagram posts worldwide. This constant stream of information keeps users highly interconnected, yet it also exposes them to increased susceptibility to manipulation and misinformation.
Every day, netizens encounter various news and disinformation tactics that challenge our capacity to differentiate between truth and falsehood. While this is a long-standing and intricate issue with a history spanning centuries, the Internet and mass media platforms have amplified its effects on an unprecedented scale.
Disinformation possesses the power to shape public sentiment, disrupt social unity, and undermine democratic processes. Consequently, it highlights the urgent requirement for media literacy. Users must understand what disinformation truly entails, how it spreads, and what resources are available to counteract it. It is crucial to identify and combat disinformation effectively.
The Exhibition’s Aims
The exhibition commences by providing an overview of fake news, encompassing its definition, generation process, and modes of transmission. It also delves into the inherent susceptibility of audiences’ brains to easily accept them.
Taking visitors on a historical journey from ancient times to the present, the exhibition features major falsehoods that emerged during different eras. These falsehoods often coincide with significant scientific and technological advancements.
The exhibition explores how media channels have contributed to the dissemination and viral spread of these falsehoods, with the Internet, social networks, and the recent emergence of artificial intelligence playing pivotal roles.
Ultimately, the exhibition concludes with a set of ten guiding principles designed to aid audiences in combating disinformation. This battle against disinformation is regarded as one of the key challenges of the 21st century, as acknowledged by the World Economic Forum and the latest report from Reporters Without Borders in 2023.
What Does the Exhibition Offer?
The exhibition takes an objective and instructive approach, leaving no room for compromise right from the beginning. As visitors enter, they are greeted by a large illuminated staircase that metaphorically leads nowhere.
This staircase serves as a symbolic representation of the various concepts associated with the phenomenon, such as decontextualization, propaganda, disinformation, fake news, and deepfakes. By isolating and defining these concepts, the exhibition aims to provide a better understanding of the problem at hand.
Further along, another staircase, again symbolically inverted, enlightens visitors about the strategies employed to create news that lacks authenticity, as it prioritizes impact over truth. These strategies involve manipulating issues to evoke visceral responses, promoting polarization, obscuring factual information, fabricating problems, and isolating recipients within their own echo chambers.
To comprehend the latter, one only needs to consider the numerous forwarded messages that regularly populate our mobile devices. These messages are the result of frantic circulation among anonymous individuals who are united by shared biases and prejudices.
The Exhibition Discusses Doctored Images
The exhibition presents a range of examples displaying the practice of image manipulation throughout history, starting from the invention of photography until the present day.
These examples include an official portrait of Abraham Lincoln, where his head was placed on a different body that ironically belonged to a slave owner. Moreover, the exhibition includes a photo of Obama seemingly visiting a Chinese laboratory, which was actually staged in an American setting as part of a hoax implicating the United States in the COVID pandemic. Lastly, it shows a recent fake image generated by artificial intelligence, featuring Pope Francis wearing an exaggerated white feather coat, resembling an urban music star. These examples serve to demonstrate the prevalence and historical significance of image manipulation in disseminating disinformation.
The Exhibition Discusses Deepfake
The exhibition focuses on deepfakes, the most sophisticated and perilous form of image manipulation.
Deepfakes utilize advanced techniques to convincingly alter videos, making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to discern their authenticity.
The exhibition highlights numerous instances of these manipulated videos, featuring well-known individuals in scenarios or uttering statements that never actually occurred. Visitors can witness highly successful examples of deepfakes involving famous figures such as Morgan Freeman, Donald Trump, Kim Kardashian, and Mark Zuckerberg. These examples underscore the alarming capabilities of deepfakes and their potential to deceive viewers.
Visitors are presented with examples of deepfakes and instructed on how to identify them based on their flaws. These flaws may include alterations in skin color or inconsistencies in facial features.
The exhibition concludes with four desks where visitors can choose to take an exam to test their ability to distinguish between false news and true news. This interactive component allows visitors to assess their understanding and skills in detecting disinformation after learning from the exhibition.
Read More:
Why Do People Believe Fake News?
Trust in Traditional Media Declines as Social Media Apps Emerge as News Platforms
Misbar’s Sources:
