“Historically speaking, propaganda was rarely a pure lie”
An interdisciplinary research team at Maastricht University is investigating the role of disinformation in society
What if information deliberately misleads us when it is delivered via social media, newspapers or television? What are the consequences, and what can society do about it? In the Netherlands, too, we are increasingly confronted with this form of disinformation. It affects all sections of the population and is a challenge that concerns us all. This has prompted the government to include disinformation on its list of future societal challenges.
To gain a better understanding of the scale of this challenge, the ‘Education, Citizenship and Democracy’ sector plan was established. This is a national collaborative programme involving Dutch universities, within which Maastricht University focuses specifically on research into ‘Disinformation & Democracy’. At UM, researchers from four faculties are working together to understand how disinformation emerges and spreads. In addition to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, researchers from the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, the Faculty of Law and the School of Business and Economics are also part of the interdisciplinary research team.
Looking at the wider information landscape in society
Historian Betto van Waarden is involved as a researcher and lecturer on behalf of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. “Because the scope of disinformation is so broad, we are conducting research from different disciplines and perspectives. We also collaborate in part with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam. Last year, a dedicated research group on disinformation was also established in Utrecht. National meetings on the subject are organised as well, which we also attend,” says Van Waarden.
The interdisciplinary approach is a major added value of the research. Issues that affect society broadly need to be studied from a broad range of perspectives. But when disinformation is approached from so many different disciplines, can a research group actually work with a single definition? Van Waarden explains: “Disinformation can be interpreted in different ways by different faculties. What we particularly want to avoid is focusing solely on tweets. Instead, we want to look at the wider information landscape in society – the bigger picture. More specifically, disinformation is the deliberate dissemination of false or misleading information for a political or social purpose.”
Diagnosis and remedy
Van Waarden: “You can think of the research as having two sides: we make a diagnosis and try to find a remedy, without overlooking the side effects, because there are some. We start by mapping the problem – that’s the diagnosis, so to speak. Where do we encounter disinformation in the media, and how do we deal with it? What policies are needed, for example, when it comes to regulations governing the broadcasting system and social media? This is where the different disciplines offer a range of interesting perspectives. Topics such as confirmation bias, group behaviour and identity are being studied from different angles. They show us, for example, that people do not simply change their opinions as soon as they are presented with certain information.”
According to Van Waarden, information is everywhere, all the time. If you are repeatedly exposed to a particular set of ideas, it will gradually have an effect. “To understand that effect, we therefore need to take a very broad view and analyse the entire media landscape across the decades. History naturally plays an important role in this. Historically speaking, propaganda was rarely a pure lie. If you want to persuade people, you actually use as many accurate facts as possible and distort only the selection and framing. That insight is much older than social media. The interdisciplinary approach helps us map the broader context and understand it.”
Betto van Waarden is a historian at Maastricht University and author of Politicians and Mass Media in the Age of Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2025). Next year, he will lead a research project on ‘The History of Truth in Dutch Democracy’, funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
People who approach the world with confidence and resilience are much better equipped to deal with everything that comes their way.
Mistrust as a side effect of the remedy
According to Van Waarden, the problem with disinformation is not so much the information itself, but a lack of trust in media providers, institutions and organisations, among others. “When you think about a possible remedy, you quickly arrive at better media literacy: we need to create critical media consumers. Although you can take that too far. If you tell people to distrust what they read and keep emphasising that message, at some point they may start distrusting everything. That is a good example of a side effect of the remedy. In the long term, this could actually create a much greater problem for democracy than a few fake news reports that ultimately make up only a small proportion of the total news supply.”
But how does someone become a critical media consumer? How can citizens and democracies become more resilient to disinformation? According to Van Waarden, people who approach the world with confidence and resilience are much better equipped to deal with everything that comes their way. “It’s not just about checking sources. That is certainly important, but it’s much more about recognising in yourself: okay, certain information is coming in – what impact does it have on me, and why does it have that impact? Is the information I’m receiving actually important in the bigger picture, and do I really need to engage with it? Those are the questions we need to ask ourselves when we read and hear things.”
Looking ahead
The current sector plan runs until 2029, says Van Waarden. “There is an option to extend it. We need to ask ourselves whether this is research for the long term. But given what history tells us, we can safely say that disinformation is a persistent problem that continues to take new forms, with AI being the latest example. We need to remain aware of this. That is reason enough to continue researching disinformation.”
Text: Marc Lochs