Digital distrust and polarisation: 'We need to get back to engaging with one another as a society'

François Picard is pleased to welcome Valdemar Osted, partner and head of technology at Danish digital consultancy Common Consultancy. Can the fear of disinformation become as dangerous to democracy as disinformation itself? Osted challenges widely circulated claims that attacks on Russian data centres have triggered a sudden collapse in online engagement among supporters of Donald Trump and Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Drawing on social media monitoring and research into inauthentic behaviour, Osted reports finding no unusual decline in Facebook interactions following the attacks.