Bulgarian Companies Cannot Protect Themselves Against Fake News

The conference "Corruption and the Origin of Fake News" was held in the European Parliament. It gathered over 120 Bulgarian public figures, citizens and European MP's.

The conference was attended by Jeffrey van Orden, known German scholar and industrialist who is currently also one of the most respected European MP's, Prof. Olaf Henkel, Polish MEP and former Deputy Speaker Richard Chernetsky, Colin Stevens, a journalist who focuses on the EP. On the Bulgarian side, the conference was attended by the former Ambassador in Moscow Plamen Grozdanov, tourism expert Rumen Draganov, journalists Rumiana Michneva and Georgi Gotev, Stoyan Denev, the economist Dimitar Chobanov, the former prosecutor Roman Vassilev, MEPs and others.

Plamen Grozdanov noted that under the current Bulgarian legislation companies can not defend themselves by filing court cases because they have yet to prove damages that have suffered from such false news and lies. Dimitar Chobanov from the University of National and World Economy took note of the effect of fake news on the economy. Their first goal is to attract attention, it is important to understand how they impact on users in social media and in general. "The phenomenon of fake news is old in its nature. The first example is in the 19th century. Then an authoritative British newspaper writes that there is an open moon life. This is causing a boom in sales," Chobanov said.

About 7 out of 10 Bulgarians claim they can recognize fake news. One out of every eight does not know what is fake news and is hard to find. These data are from a study by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which was presented by Prof. Chobanov. People who can recognize fake news are an educated urban stratum, they are concentrated in a small part of the...