In the last century, running a dictatorshipA form of government in which one person possesses all the power without any limits. meant controlling everything. Dictators shut down newspapers, outlawed other political parties, and crushed their opponents by force.

Just one problem: secretly, the people loathed them. AuthoritarianEnforcing strict obedience to authority. states had to become more and more oppressive to stamp out any hint of disloyalty. Eventually the pressure became too much and the people rose up.

But some dictators remained. They had to figure out how to avoid the same fate. So they adopted new techniques. Instead of crushing their people, they would keep them confused.

This is the argument of an influential book, Spin Dictators, by academics Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman.

So-called "spin dictators" keep dissidentA person who opposes official policy, especially that of an authoritarian state. newspapers in circulation, but limit their spread. They buy independent media outlets and turn them into propagandaInformation, which may be biased or misleading, used to promote a certain viewpoint. machines. They hire people to pretend to be their opponents, while actually controlling them.

The effect is to keep people constantly unsure whether or not anything is true. All information becomes suspect.

Now some think western politicians are copying from their playbook.

For example, spin dictators often use techniques from the world of entertainment. Their followers make merchandise and viral memes based on them, which helps control their image.

Donald TrumpAn American television personality who became US president from 2016 to 2020. He is running to be president again in 2024. 's "Make America Great Again" hats did much the same. His supporters flocked to buy the signature red headwear because they became a badge of honour - and because they were told wearing them would "trigger" their liberal opponents.

Some fear these methods are undermining our own ability to tell what is and is not true. Social media is a big culprit, since it allows misinformation to spread quickly.

Research suggests that Americans who get most of their news from social media, who make up around 18% of the population, are generally less knowledgeable about current affairs and more likely to have heard conspiracy theories.¹

But others think we have got the wrong problem. Some experts think societies get more polarised when people have more knowledge, not less.² They say there could be a virtue in a society that is not very sure what it knows and does not know.

Yes: The information age has given ambitious politicians tools of control that previous generations of dictators could only have dreamed of. This is making it harder and harder to verify anything.

No: Misinformation is out there, but people are also getting more digitally literateDigital literacy is the ability to find, critically evaluate and share news and information online. . We are simply in an adjustment phase before knowledge catches up with new technology.

Or... The problem is not that people are losing their grip on truth, but that society is coming to be made up of many competing truths. This means people cannot even agree on what they should disagree about.