The World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risk Report has suggested that disinformation and misinformation are more severe short-term risks for a two-year period as compared to extreme weather events or lack of economic opportunity. And India is on top of the list of countries with the highest risk of misinformation and disinformation, according to the report. 

The annual report, released earlier this month, is based on the Global Risk Perception Survey conducted by the forum and its partner institutes among 1,500 experts in academia, business, and government. 

Noting that India is set to hold its next general election between April and May this year, the report pointed to elections in several countries and said that the “presence of misinformation in these electoral processes could seriously destabilise the legitimacy of newly-elected governments”.

“Beyond elections, perceptions of reality are likely to also become more polarised, infiltrating the public discourse on issues ranging from public health to social justice. However, as truth is undermined, the risk of domestic propaganda and censorship will also rise in turn. In response to mis- and disinformation, governments could be increasingly empowered to control information based on what they determine to be ‘true’. Freedoms relating to the internet, press and access to wider sources of information that are already in decline risk descending into broader repression of information flows across a wider set of countries.”

Other countries facing a high risk of the impact of misinformation and disinformation are El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Romania, Ireland, Czechia, the United States, Sierra Leone, France and Finland.

Meanwhile, environmental risk was chosen as the highest risk category – but over a longer 10-year period – with 66 percent of respondents choosing it.

Over 50 percent of respondents said there was a moderate risk of a global catastrophe in the next two years. The report also pointed to protests, riots, and violent conflicts, as well as extreme heat and floods in some parts of the world.

“An unstable global order characterised by polarising narratives and insecurity, the worsening impacts of extreme weather and economic uncertainty are causing accelerating risks – to propagate,” said WEF managing director Saadia Zahidi in a press statement.

This report was published with AI assistance.