Developing sustainable models to tackle disinformation is of strategic importance for the countries’ media ecosystems. Though fake news and disinformation have long been used to manipulate the public, their impacts on the mindset of citizens expanded more than ever before, said Ahmad Ismayilov, Executive Director of Azerbaijan’s Media Development Agency, as he addressed the Turkic States Forum on Combating Disinformation held in Ankara.

Ismayilov noted that if the disinformation waves once relied on traditional media channels and purely political messaging, now the picture has completely changed. He also mentioned that the Turkic states are also exposed to such systematic information threats.

Noting that the problem of disinformation in Azerbaijan is becoming more evident as the country's international reputation continues to grow, the Executive Director of the Media Development Agency said: “We frequently observe orchestrated smear campaigns during major international events hosted in our country. These campaigns are calculated to incite confusion and instability, using fabricated narratives specifically designed to tarnish our global reputation.”