Fake News Danger Becomes Top Davos Worry In Year Of Elections

(Bloomberg) -- False or wrong information poses the biggest danger to the world in the next two years amid a confluence of elections and economic drudgery, according to a survey by the World Economic Forum.

Hours after a fake post on the US Securities and Exchange Commission's X account fueled a brief surge in Bitcoin, the Geneva-based organization that will next week host the global elite in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos highlighted how worries about the potential manipulation of voters are mounting.

The annual poll conducted by the forum among more than 1,400 risk experts, policymakers and industry leaders put “misinformation and disinformation” at the top of threats facing the global economy in the short term. Concerns about the health of the planet dominate the outlook for the coming decade, a trend already seen in previous surveys.

More than 3 billion people will vote this year, with the US, India, Indonesia, Europe, and probably the UK too holding some of the biggest polls due. The report confronts how economies squeezed by high borrowing costs after a once-in-a generation inflation shock just as major elections take place could present a toxic backdrop for the world in coming months. 

“When these two things come together — the economic hardship being faced by many people and the rise of synthetic content combined with going into an election year where people get to make decisions about who is going to be leading them — that together can be a very potent mix,” Saadia Zahidi, WEF managing director, told Bloomberg Television's Francine Lacqua on Wednesday.

The elevation of fake news as a danger at the forefront of worries among the crowd heading to the Davos meetings kicking off on Monday underscores shows how politics risks dominating the gathering in the mountains. How to rebuild trust is the theme confronting leaders and executives set to attend there. 

Widespread use of misinformation and disinformation may undermine the legitimacy of newly elected governments, fuel violent protests and potentially even terrorism, according to the WEF. 

Read More: Blinken, Macron, Li Headline Davos Forum Tackling Eroded Trust

“If some of those views start spilling over very different perceptions of reality, when it comes to health, when it comes to what people are thinking about education, what people think about specific people, who then becomes the owner of the truth?” Zahidi said.

Things are no better for the coming decade. Two-thirds of respondents anticipate the emergence of a multipolar or fragmented world order in that time horizon, in which mid- and large-size powers set and enforce rules and norms. Four of the five biggest challenges for then are related to climate change. 

Some 30% of respondents see an elevated chance of global catastrophes in the next 24 months, and nearly two thirds envisage such a scenario in the coming decade.

“The outlook has shifted deeply toward darker side over the next 10 years,” Zahidi said.

The forum's wider analysis on the survey was no less pessimistic. 

The results “highlight a predominantly negative outlook for the world in the short term that is expected to worsen over the long term,” the WEF said. “Against a backdrop of systemic shifts in global power dynamics, climate, technology and demographics, global risks are stretching the world's adaptative capacity to its limit.”

--With assistance from Samuel Dodge.

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