Oleg Makarov, Director of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Research, believes that the impact of fake news and Telegram channels on people will weaken. He made this statement in an interview with the "Nedelia" show on СTV channel.
"It seems to me that this is a natural process, it will happen. For today, in my opinion, we have strong immunity to advertising. If in the past we were more susceptible to advertising, now the thinking is probably more critical. The same thing will happen with fake news. People will learn to distinguish between fake news and true news. And this is a natural process," Oleg Makarov believes.
Next week Minsk will host a high-level international conference "Combatting terrorism through innovative approaches and using new and advanced technology". From 9 to 13 September Belarus will participate in the meeting of the UN Open-ended Working Group on International Information Security.
According to Oleg Makarov, Belarus' position on the matters to be discussed at these conferences is enshrined in the country's information security concept.
"We offer such a category as information neutrality for Belarus. And we say that we are ready to commit ourselves not to use harmful measures in the information sphere against other states," he said
Oleg Makarov also emphasized that legislation, information and security systems in Belarus are up to the world standards, but it must not be forgotten that this is a very fast-changing area:
"Danger and security are related to how we and our security systems keep pace with the information society's development and anticipate the emerging threats. At present, we cannot say that any threat really affects our mind or our networks, having a catastrophic, fatal impact. We are safe, but we should not calm down. These processes are very rapid," Oleg Makarov said.
Besides, Oleg Makarov believes that the development of a legal framework on information, which is carried out worldwide with the active participation of Belarus, is one of the most important tasks. National law will adopt international provisions, and Belarus will also participate in the development of such provisions, the expert said.