Direct dialogue with the public is the most reliable tool for governments and politicians, says Pashinyan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said direct dialogue with the public was the most reliable tool available to governments and politicians in an age of disinformation.

He made the remarks on 10 November at a panel discussion entitled “Holding the Line: Sovereignty in the Age of Hybrid Threats”, held as part of the ninth Paris Peace Forum.

“False information and disinformation usually spread through social media, but the same tool can also be used to counter them. In 2022, when disinformation spread in Armenia within a matter of hours and prompted a large public gathering, I began livestreaming on my Facebook page to try to explain to our people what was happening. The gathering lasted two hours and came to nothing. We saw the same situation during the election campaign in May and June this year,” Pashinyan said.

He stressed that dialogue with citizens was essential, but that the government and the public also needed other sources of information.

“In recent years, fact-checking has become visibly established in Armenia, and that has helped us a great deal. Another very important factor is the public’s media literacy. People often see something on social media and ask whether it is real, and that is very important. People are becoming fact-checkers themselves, and I think this is another very important development that could help address the problem,” the prime minister said.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and North Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova also took part in the discussion.