Global body needed to tackle fake news: FM

The international community should identify a global platform that would be able to prevent people from spreading disinformation, HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told the Global Security Forum Tuesday.

The two-day event, inaugurated by HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani at St Regis Doha, is exploring the security challenges posed by the proliferation of modern disinformation campaign and the serious implications this has on an increasingly interconnected world.The opening ceremony was attended by a number of ministers, senior officials from several countries, diplomats and other dignitaries.Participating in a Fireside Chat with Ali Velshi, MSNBC anchor and business correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, Sheikh Mohamed said disinformation is one of the major threats to international security.“It is very important now that people who spread any disinformation whether state or non-state actors, need to be made accountable for the crimes they commit. We need to identify a global platform to make sure that people carry out their activities in a more responsible manner,” stated Sheikh Mohamed.“We have experienced the negative impacts of disinformation in Qatar as the Gulf Crisis was based on a cyber attack purposely carried out to spread disinformation against the country. The entire crisis was built up based on this and the smear campaign against Qatar started from there,” recalled Sheikh Mohamed.HE the foreign minister said the disinformation campaign launched against Qatar was meant to purposely affect public opinion with the intention of changing the peopletarget="_blank"'>