Pope warns against Internet 'disinformation'

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis on Thursday warned against the "disinformation" and "targeted distortion of facts" to be found on the Internet and social networks´ "manipulation of personal data". The Internet "is a source of knowledge and relationships that were once unthinkable," the Argentine pope said in a message for the World Day of Social Communications.

"However... many experts also highlight the risks that threaten the search for, and sharing of, authentic information on a global scale," he said. "If the Internet represents an extraordinary possibility of access to knowledge, it is also true that it has proven to be one of the areas most exposed to disinformation and to the conscious and targeted distortion of facts," the Argentine pope said.

"We need to recognise how social networks, on the one hand, help us to better connect, rediscover, and assist one another, but on the other, lend themselves to the manipulation of personal data, aimed at obtaining political or economic advantages, without due respect for the person and his or her rights," he said. This year´s World Day of Social Communications will be marked on June 2, the Vatican said.