Is Central Europe Losing the Information War?

Czech MP on why inability to correct mistakes erodes political accountability

22 October 2026

Fighting fake news alone will not protect Central and Eastern European democracies. Credible ways to check competing claims can help greatly. Is the region doing enough?

Democracies do not need citizens to agree. They do not even need citizens to read the same news, support the same parties or share the same political worldview. They need something more fundamental. Citizens must remain capable of realising that they might be wrong.

It sounds obvious, but it is becoming increasingly difficult. Citizens of today’s democracies are exposed to false information, as they always have been. Propaganda, rumours, political manipulation and conspiracy theories are nothing new. What is new is the scale, speed and fragmentation of the information environment and the possibility that citizens will lose both access to reliable information and the mechanisms through which competing claims can be verified and corrected. It is precisely at this point that the information problem becomes a democratic one.

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Marek Ženíšek

Marek Ženíšek is a Czech member of parliament and vice-president of TOP 09. He previously served as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Czech Parliament and as Minister for Science, Research and Innovation. His research focuses on democratisation, democratic backsliding, political information and geopolitics, with a particular interest in Central and Eastern Europe and Taiwan.

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