What a Human-Centred Approach Reveals About Disinformation Policies: The Baltic Case

Auksė Balčytienė, Agnese Dāvidsone and Andra Siibak
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Auksė Balčytienė: Department of Public Communications, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania / Vytautas Kavolis Transdisciplinary Research Institute, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
Agnese Dāvidsone: Institute of Humanities, Economics and Social Sciences Research, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Latvia
Andra Siibak: Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia

Media and Communication, 2025, vol. 13

Abstract: The Baltic countries’ responses to disinformation are widely recognized for their effectiveness in balancing “hard” and “soft” approaches while upholding democratic values (Bleyer-Simon et al., 2024). This article argues for additional efforts and more focused approaches to sustain societal resilience amid increasing geopolitical uncertainties and national political and economic risks, resulting in challenges of a more “epistemic character,” such as growing information-related vulnerabilities, informational inequalities, and polarization. To expose inconsistencies and gaps in the current strategies and agendas for countering disinformation, the article proposes a human-centred approach based on the critical realist framework elaborated by Margareth Archer (1995, 2020). While Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have advanced beyond mere risk awareness in their national policies, this article argues that a more targeted approach is necessary—one that goes beyond the protective logic of securitization and toward evidence-informed awareness of the divergences and information-related inequalities among people.

Keywords: agency; Baltic countries; countering disinformation; disinformation; governance; informational inequality; media literacy; risk awareness; vulnerability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v13:y:2025:a:9548

DOI: 10.17645/mac.9548

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