The ECP Lecture and Talk Programme for this academic year opened recently with a thought-provoking lecture on the topic “Hostile propaganda and the Abuse of the Internet”. It was delivered by the CEO of Semantic Visions, Mr František Vrábel. Semantic Visions is a Czech company that collects and analyses 90% of the world’s online news in real time. In his talk, Mr Vrábel demonstrated how countries, as well as individuals can create hostile propaganda and spread disinformation.
There was a lively question and answer session at the end of the lecture. Our guest had to respond to some very challenging questions. Mr Vrábel underlined the need for quality education in today’s world. When asked by students how they can identify which information they are presented with is true, he replied that it is important to attend a school like ECP to be able to make one’s own informed and independent opinion. Mr Vrábel also pointed out how Facebook is misusing the data of users. He added that Facebook also generates influence by exposing the users to targeted advertising and content.
