“Fake News” as a Smokescreen

Authoritarians don’t just lie, they make truth untrustworthy.

They scream “fake news” at anything critical.
They smear journalists as enemies or foreign agents.
They flood the public with noise and contradiction until people give up asking what’s real.

They flood the public sphere with conflicting narratives. Contradictory statements, sensational distractions, and conspiracies blur the lines between fact and fiction. The result? Exhaustion, confusion, apathy. This isn’t about correcting the record, it’s about destroying public trust, so the only voice left standing is theirs.

If no one believes the press, the regime can say anything and get away with everything.