Information manipulation is not a new phenomenon. The attention that it has recently attracted is tied to a combination of two factors: on the one hand, the unprecedented capacity of the internet and social networks to rapidly, even ‘virally,’ spread information; on the other hand, the crisis of confidence that our democracies are experiencing, which devalues public speech and goes so far as to relativize the very notion of truth. The 2016 US and 2017 French elections have shed a critical light on this phenomenon, its mechanisms and consequences. Information is increasingly seen as a common good, the protection of which falls into all citizens concerned with the quality of public debate. Above all, it is the duty of civil society to develop its own resilience. Governments can and should come to the aid of civil society. They should not be in the lead, but their role is nonetheless crucial, for they cannot afford to ignore a threat that undermines the foundations of democracy and national security.
