The ECIC Conference (European Christian Internet Conference), which has been in existence since 1997 and meets once a year, focused this year on the topic “Leading in the Age of Misleading: The Role of Churches in Countering Disinformation.” The CPCE was represented at the conference for the first time. Media experts, church media workers, and theologians from 12 mainly Nordic European countries came together, but Germany and Italy were also represented. The range of topics was enormous, with many of the currently controversial issues (fake news—including with the help of AI, cyberattacks, manipulation) being examined from an Estonian perspective.
The conference was hosted by the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELC). Archbishop Urmas Viilma, who is also the president of the Estonian Council of Churches, spoke about the challenging situation on the border between “East” and “West.” He mentioned the difficult cooperation with the branch of the Orthodox Church subordinate to the Moscow Patriarch, as there has never been any distancing from the war in Ukraine. The church is being misused for hybrid warfare, and instead of being a spiritual place, believers are being forced to choose between their faith and their loyalty to the Estonian state.
The conference presentations addressed changes in media consumption behavior. It’s about the feeling that is created. Whether the stories are invented or true is of secondary importance, especially as it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish lies from truth as developments progress. However, lies are more appealing: on average, they are clicked on seven times more often than facts. Social media channels are also increasingly affected by this. More and more posts are AI-generated and without reliable sources. Many posts are commercial advertisements. The reach of church posts, for example, is becoming increasingly limited, and in some cases profiles are disappearing for no reason.
But social media is sometimes also an important mouthpiece for the truth, even in a church context. This was reported by Matthew Batten, head of communications for the Church of Wales. For decades, the hierarchically organized church communications department covered up sexual abuse and ultimately had to respond to the research and posts of social media influencers who had taken up the issue. Digital activism can force authorities to back down and tell the truth.
The next ECIC conference will take place in Rome and will focus on artificial intelligence.