RUC researcher interviewed on Kulturen about trust in the digital age
Mads Vestergaard, postdoc researcher in the research project Digital Society and Trust (DIS-TRUST) at Roskilde University, participated on March 26th 2024 in the radio program Kulturen on P1. The episode, titled “Hot Jesus og unge søger bogklubber” (Eng: ”Hot Jesus and youth looking for book clubs”) included a feature, during which the hosts Jesper Dein and Chris Pedersen discussed with Mads Vestergaard the subject of the relationship between conspiracy theories, mistrust, and manipulation of photo and video material.
The point of departure of Mads’ discussion was the case of recent speculations around Kate Middleton’s health, which have reached conspiracy levels in the past few months due to her absence from the public eye after a planned surgery last December. On March 10th, the Princess of Wales published a photo on social media which was obviously digitally manipulated, and major news agencies recalled the picture in question the next day, sparking even more curiosity among the public. With a later announcement, the Princess announced she is undergoing treatment for cancer and asked for privacy during her recovery. However, the case has uncovered an unsettling reality we are now entering, in which generative AI undermines people’s ability to trust digital audio and visual content.
One of the messages that Mads Vestergaard discussed was that trust and mistrust are not a simple either-or. In fact, DIS-TRUST works with four types of trust relationships: trust in other people, trust in institutions, trust in oneself, and trust in technologies. Conspiracy theories are based on a fundamental mistrust and have in common that the official story is considered deceit. However, conspiracy theorists' relationship to trust and mistrust is more complex than that, says Mads Vestergaard. On one hand, conspiracy theorists are characterized by having mistrust in institutions such as traditional media and public authorities, but on the other hand, they have a high degree of interpersonal trust in the people – often other conspiracy theorists - whom they follow on social media. They also have a high degree of trust in themselves as being capable of distinguishing credible from non-credible sources, science from pseudoscience, and authentic material from manipulated.
It was also highlighted that breaches of trust play a significant role in making visible the preceding trust, which is often tacit and unreflected. Once trust is broken, it can lead to a reconsideration of the entire history with the one who broke the trust, as has specifically happened with pictures published by the British royal family.
Listen to the interview here (in Danish): Hot Jesus og unge søger bogklubber