2026-05-04
On May 1st, 2026, and under the patronage of the President of Badr University in Assiut, Prof. Dr. Mostafa Kamal, the University Platform for Sustainable Development—supervised by its President, Prof. Dr. Salwa Hassan—held its first seminar within its scientific plan for the academic year 2026–2027.
The President of the International Organization for Media, Creativity & Development, Dr. Madeleine Kassab, participated in the seminar and delivered a lecture entitled: “Media Disinformation in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Towards Redefining and Re-Characterizing Propaganda and Disinformation.”
In her lecture, Dr. Kassab introduced new concepts within her critique of the traditional academic treatment of disinformation and in her analysis of the impact of digital variables on content production. For her, the prevailing definitions and descriptions of media disinformation are themselves misleading, which necessitates rethinking the characteristics of propaganda and disinformation and understanding the nature of the relationship between them.
Below is a summary of the key ideas presented by Dr. Madeleine Kassab:
The intervention offers a fundamental critique of the prevailing definitions and descriptions of propaganda and disinformation, arguing that they are no longer capable of explaining the phenomenon in general, and especially in the context of current technological transformations. Traditional academic perspectives separate propaganda—understood as long‑term psychological and social engineering—from disinformation, viewed merely as informational manipulation that alters the content of belief. However, this separation, according to the presented argument, minimizes the role and danger of disinformation. Changing the content of belief inevitably leads to changing the way one thinks, which makes “the current definition and description of disinformation themselves misleading.” Dr. Kassab explains that all propaganda is based on affiliation, and all affiliation inherently carries bias, and all bias opens the doors to misinformation.
The lecture emphasizes that propaganda is no longer a set of directed messages; it has transformed into a techno‑cognitive structure operating within digital platforms, infiltrating consciousness through algorithms, big data, personalization, and generative content. The modern communication system selects messages, defines their audiences, measures their impact in real time, and continuously reshapes perception. Hence the call to redefine propaganda and disinformation through interdisciplinary approaches that include semiotics, psychology, philosophy, media and communication studies, anthropology, and information engineering.
* Transformations in the Identity of Propaganda Actors
The intervention notes that in the past, the propagandist was typically a single actor, whereas today propaganda has become a complex system that includes: political and religious actors, economic institutions, lobbying groups, technology companies, social media platforms, autonomous algorithms, and individuals equipped with content‑generation tools. This interconnectedness makes propaganda a decentralized process, and it may appear that all actors are working for a single entity despite the absence of direct coordination—an outcome of technological mechanisms and overlapping interests.
In this context, Dr. Madeleine Kassab introduces a new concept: “the instrumentalized propagandist”—an individual who contributes to reinforcing disinformation within themselves and others, unknowingly, by adopting values and beliefs that align with the goals of the manipulator, thus becoming an effective tool in disseminating propaganda and ensuring its impact.
* Tools and Techniques of Disinformation in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
The intervention outlines seventeen tools, the most prominent of which include:
1- The new face of persuasion: shifting from attempting to change opinions directly to creating a cognitive environment in which the targeted idea appears natural and more present than truth itself.
2- Selectivity: presenting part of the truth while hiding another part, where “the omission becomes misleading no matter how small it is.”
3- Framing: controlling context and content sequencing in ways that alter the meaning of news without modifying its text.
4- Misleading headlines: which become social, political, and cultural drivers.
5- Symbols and slogans: tools that reach the subconscious and condense entire narratives; AI enhances their persuasive power.
6- Algorithmic repetition: transforming a message into a self‑evident truth by reproducing it across multiple sources.
7- Attention engineering: controlling what the audience sees and what is concealed. “Whoever controls attention controls interpretation.”
8- Generative AI: in this context, Dr. Madeleine Kassab introduces the concept of “human‑technological creativity in disinformation”, referring to the limitless capacity to produce confusion, noise, and thus deception.
9- Behavioral‑psychological profiling: turning data into precise psychological models that make propaganda an individualized form of engineering.
10- Hyper‑personalization: creating “knowledge bubbles” tailored to each individual.
11- Social robots: communication and manipulation tools capable of self‑learning.
12- Fabricated consensus and common enemy construction: mechanisms that amplify belonging or hostility.
13- Information overload: exhausting awareness rather than persuading it.
14- Censorship, hacking, and electronic “flies”: tools for silencing, distorting, and conducting character assassination.
* Some Tools for Resisting Disinformation
The intervention presents several resistance strategies, including:
understanding the goals and mechanisms of disinformation, developing critical analysis skills, interdisciplinary academic collaboration, partnerships between media and scientific research, developing anti-misinformation artificial intelligence systems, rebuilding the public sphere, and enacting legislation that balances combating disinformation with protecting freedom of expression.
Conclusion
The lecture concludes that disinformation is no longer a simple phenomenon but a deep epistemic structure embedded in collective consciousness. Confronting it requires redefining concepts, gaining a profound understanding of modern propaganda mechanisms, and adopting a new vision of communication and awareness in the age of artificial intelligence.
The full text of Dr. Madeleine Kassab's intervention is available at the following link: https://iomcd.org/php/viewNews.php?id=144&lan=1
