Who sows disinformation, collects the win?
Already the great Chinese thinker Sun Zi knew that war can be won with a false word. Without making a cognitive effort, we will perish under the onslaught of custom-made slander.
Staff at a Metro Bank branch in Harrow, north-west London, couldn’t hide their amazement when an ever-lengthening queue began to form at the tills on a warm May morning in 2019. With every quarter of an hour, people were arriving, and in such numbers that people had to wait outside. It turned out that the reason for the commotion was a message sent out via WhatsApp messenger, that the bank was experiencing financial difficulties and was on the verge of bankruptcy. We did not have to wait long for the reaction of worried customers. Pictures of the London offices swarmed by hundreds of people and circulated social media, adding to the panic. People wanted to withdraw money from their accounts as soon as possible and empty their deposit boxes. By 4 p.m., dozens of branches scattered across London had experienced a veritable armageddon. It was no use to explain that it was just a rumor, the bank has no problems and maintains liquidity. Metro Bank’s share price plunged by 9%, which at a valuation of 350 million pounds ($453 million) was a huge amount.
