On December 18, the Valdai Club held a discussion titled “How to Set Up a New Virtual World?” In the opening remarks, Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club, noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had catalyzed the processes taking place in the field of communication. He compared “new media” to nuclear weapons, which must be controlled in order to avoid disaster. Perhaps, he suggested, it is necessary to create institutions for the virtual world, similar to those of the real world.
Igor Ashmanov, President of the Kribrum Public Company, raised the issue of digital rights of citizens, pointing to the danger of efforts of so-called ecosystems to collect user data. “The digital tsunami has not arrived yet, but we are on the verge of one,” he said. According to him, before building institutions, it is necessary to ensure the basic security of new communications based on “digital hygiene”.
Lev Manovich, Professor at the City University of New York, discussed in detail the problem of fake news. He too admitted that the digital world may have gotten so out of control that it needs regulation, and supported the moderator’s idea of creating some special structures for this.
New media lock people inside the agenda, noted Evgeny Kuznetsov, CEO of the Orbita Capital Partners. Historically access to information expanded the human worldview, but the modern digital environment, on the contrary, narrows beliefs, confining us to our “filter bubbles”, depriving of freedom of choice. Prohibitions and restrictions are unlikely to solve this problem.
Control over the Internet and attempts to control the flow of information carry threats of their own kind and are not universal solutions, said Alexander Polesitsky, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Radio. They must be accompanied by attempts to understand new generations and by cross-border efforts to find common interests and values.
