Global Risk Report 2025: Misinformation & Disinformation

Context: The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025 underscores misinformation and disinformation as the highest ranked short-term global threat. 

Global Risks Report 2025

• Annual Report released by World Economic Forum (WEF).
• Global Risks Initiative is the WEF's principal platform to monitor critical global risks facing economies and societies.

Highlights of the latest Report:

1. Current Risk Landscape 2025: 

2. Short-term Risks (2 years):

3. Long-term Risks (10 years): 

Misinformation and Disinformation as the Highest ranked Short-term Global Threat

1. Misinformation vs Disinformation:

• Misinformation refers to false or misleading content shared without harmful intent.  
• Disinformation is the spread of false or misleading content with the intent to deceive or gain economically or politically, causing public harm. 

Challenge of Misinformation and Disinformation

• India, with over 900 million internet users, is highly vulnerable due to its diverse political and social landscape, making it a target for manipulated narratives, voter influence, and economic disruption.
  • AI-generated content, deep fakes, and algorithm-driven echo chambers have made it increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from deception.
  • It erodes informational integrity and threatens democratic institutions, public trust, and social cohesion. 
• Decline of trust in legacy media has led to increased reliance on social media, where unverified information spreads easily. Political parties, national figures, and foreign actors like China exploit this to push misinformation, as seen in the Doklam standoff and ongoing disinformation campaigns.
  • A study by the Indian School of Business and CyberPeace Foundation found that 46% of misinformation is political, followed by general (33.6%) and religious (16.8%) content.

Recommended Solutions

• Global Risks Report 2025 recommends measures such as:
  • Upskilling developers working with algorithms. 
  • Improving public awareness and digital literacy. E.g., RBI’s Financial Literacy Campaign.
  • Ensuring accountability through supervisory boards and AI councils to oversee Generative AI practices.

• Policy Changes: With almost 400 million Facebook and over 500 million WhatsApp users, India stands as the largest market for social media platforms. By capitalising on this market power, regulatory bodies can push big tech towards positive policy changes to tackle disinformation. E.g., Audits and transparency actions for Very Large Online Platforms with more than 45 million users, similar to the EU’s Digital Services Act.
• Regular risk assessment: Platforms should be mandated with regular risk assessment.
• Adequate funding should be allocated for advancing cybersecurity research and innovation.
• Regulation of Online ads: Online ads must disclose funding sources and target audiences to prevent malicious actors from spreading false narratives.
• Encouraging independent research on disinformation, along with stronger laws to protect independent journalists.
• Collaboration among civil society groups, fact-checkers, and regulators to create evidence-based policies for information integrity.
• Establish crossborder coalitions for a coordinated global response.

India being world’s largest democracy must act urgently to come up with important policy changes on the line of the European Union’s Digital Services Act to combat Disinformation and Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). However, caution is necessary to prevent surveillance and censorship risks.