The latest #appletreebytes, organized by apple tree alongside the Diálogo de Políticas 2019 del World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid, centred around the challenges we face due to the rapid spread of “fake news”.
The BBC monitors “fake news” around the world, especially during election periods and Angus shared details about what happened during the last elections in Spain.
On the 22nd of October, apple tree communications organized, in its Madrid office, the latest edition of #appletreebytes, a series of discussions focused on innovation, strategy, digital revolution and creativity where the agency brings together leaders in communication and marketing to discuss current issues.
On this occasion, the guest speaker was Jamie Angus, Director of the BBC World Service Group, who highlighted the real challenge that exists with “fake news” for our democracy and trusted media.
During the debate, attended by approximately 50 senior businesspeople, Angus explained the problem that currently exists as a result of the rapid spread of “fake news” on social media. “When we receive news on Whatsapp, for example, we assume it is real and we forward it to others because we know the sender, without ever checking if it is actually true or not”. To this, he added that “fake news is like poison in the bloodstream of our society”.
Among the examples presented, Angus highlighted the case relating to Spain’s last elections. The current Director of the BBC confirmed that a huge number of fake accounts were created in Spain, some of which were even created by the political parties themselves, in order to spread fake news and made-up stories about the opposition.
Jamie Angus finished his talk emphasizing the importance of promoting critical thinking, implementing government regulations and sharing evidence and sources as some of the advice and solutions to consider in order to stop the spread of “fake news”
In addition to participating in this session, Jamie is a member of the Diálogo de Políticas 2019 del World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid with which apple tree recently signed an agreement to become its official consultant.
In the words of Carme Miró, founding partner and CEO of apple tree communications, “it has been a great honour to have Jamie Angus in our Madrid offices. His talk on “fake news” has been very educational, as he has shared cases and technologies unknown to the vast majority of Spanish media”.
