Critical Thinking Key To Counter Growing Foreign Narrative Threats, Says Academic

By Wan Muhammad Aslah Wan Razali

KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 (Bernama) -- Strengthening critical thinking and cognitive resilience should be Malaysia’s top priority in countering increasingly sophisticated foreign disinformation and narrative campaigns, particularly as artificial intelligence (AI) makes online manipulation harder to detect, an academic said.

University of Nottingham Malaysia’s Head of the School of Politics, Dr Benjamin Robin Barton, said while digital platforms have brought significant benefits, they have also become channels through which foreign state-linked narratives can influence public perceptions in open democratic societies.

He said Malaysia, like many European countries, is vulnerable to coordinated information campaigns because of its open media environment and high levels of social media use.

“The most important defence is critical thinking. That has to be strengthened through education, not only for young people but across society,” he said during a virtual interview on Bernama TV’s Bernama World programme.

Barton said AI-powered tools are making disinformation increasingly convincing, requiring users to approach online content with greater scrutiny.

“These platforms are incredibly useful and incredibly powerful, but they are only beneficial if they are used with a critical lens,” he said.

He explained narrative threats differ from conventional fake news because they do not always rely on outright falsehoods but instead seek to shape perceptions over time by portraying alternative political systems in a favourable light.

Drawing on research involving the Merdeka Centre and a German research partner, Barton said Malaysians generally regard domestic news organisations as trustworthy when verifying online information.

However, he cautioned that even trusted information ecosystems can become conduits for external narratives, particularly those originating from authoritarian states seeking to influence public opinion.

He said the risks are not uniform across society, noting that while younger Malaysians are generally digitally literate, older users and those with lower educational attainment may be more susceptible to misleading content.

Barton said addressing the challenge requires more than fact-checking, stressing that governments, educators, journalists and civil society organisations all have a role in building long-term cognitive resilience.

He also called for greater collaboration between Europe and Malaysia through the exchange of best practices, capacity building and stronger engagement between universities, media organisations and civil society.

He added that such cooperation should be reciprocal, allowing both sides to learn from each other’s experiences in responding to evolving information threats while safeguarding democratic values.

-- BERNAMA

Critical Thinking Key To Counter Growing Foreign Narrative Threats, Says Academic

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