Policy
12.09.2019

How populist disinformation informs the debate on migration

Despite contrary expectations, the European elections were not marked by an abundance of targeted disinformation, as was the case with the previous US elections and the Brexit referendum. Does disinformation hence play a less important role than assumed in the European context? In this policy paper, Paul-Jasper Dittrich and Lucas Rasche argue that we should analyse disinformation beyond the focus on political elections. Using the discussion on the Global Compact for Migration as an example, they show how right-wing populist disinformation seeks to influence the course of politics by gaining the prerogative of interpretation in a “competition of narratives”.

Paul-Jasper Dittrich is advisor at the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, he formally worked for the Jacques Delors Centre.

Image: CC Dean Hochman, source: flickr.com