The event

AI and fake news: the Constitution as a guide for citizens in the digital age

Eighty years on from the Constituent Assembly, WindTre has launched a discussion on the protection of human rights in a society that has been profoundly transformed by new technologies

by Pietro Menzani

10 June 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

The European perspective

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

“The Constitution is a living instrument that must continue to guide the country’s decisions, including in the digital sphere.” This was stated by Roberto Basso, Director of External Relations and Sustainability at WindTre, speaking at the event “New technologies, new society, new rules?” promoted by Wind in collaboration with Italian Politics and Fondazione Italia Digitale, with Parlamento Magazine as media partner.

The debate took place in Rome on Tuesday 9 June and was hosted by the Civita Association. The aim of the discussion was to reflect on the new challenges posed by the digital age to the founding principles of our society, marking the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Italian Republic.

Rights in the digital age

In Italia – where, according to the latest Censis data, the internet is used by 90.4% of people, smartphones by 90.3% and social media by 86.2% – fake news, hate speech, artificial intelligence and algorithms are having an ever-greater impact on citizens’ freedom of choice and on the quality of public participation in democracy.

Furthermore, Istat reveals that just over 54% of Italians aged between 16 and 74 possess at least basic digital skills – an essential requirement for coping with the enormous volume of information and content with which users are inundated every day on the web and on social media. The starting point for the discussion promoted by WindTre was precisely the role of the Constitution as a compass for interpreting even the most radical transformations of the present.

“Information and the risks to democracy,” continued Basso, “flow through digital networks, and we are the ones who build those networks. That is why we feel a sense of responsibility for how this technological challenge will impact society. Today, information is controlled by algorithms, and these are not transparent: we do not know how they work. Transparency in the management of algorithms means ensuring pluralism in democracy.”

Intelligenza artificiale e professionisti, le dimensioni dello studio contano

New technologies

According to Alfonso Celotto, a constitutional law expert at Roma Tre University who took part in the discussion, ‘the digital world is truly a new world’ but ‘the Constitution and the framework of personal rights and freedoms are principles that apply everywhere. There is no need to draft new ones. Our task must be to ensure that new technologies are brought into line with the protection of constitutional principles: new technologies interpret traditional rules in different ways”.

Riccardo Luna, a journalist and author of the book *Something Went Wrong*, also highlighted the benefits of the digital age: ‘In 2014, Pope Francis described the internet as a gift from God. The Internet has provided us with a tool that allows us to solve the problems we face as human beings: first and foremost, access to knowledge and information. Then, access to other people.”

The European perspective

The discussion also focused on the European perspective regarding the protection of fundamental rights in the context of the new digital society. Nicoletta Pirozzi, Head of the Europe Programme at the Institute of International Affairs, explained that ‘propaganda and disinformation are not new phenomena, but with new technologies – and in particular social media, to which Artificial Intelligence has added a further layer of complexity, making us all more vulnerable – the scale and speed with which they impact citizens’ daily lives have changed radically”.

Pirozzi concluded that ‘we have therefore found ourselves facing very real threats from external actors who have sought to influence European democratic life and, ultimately, have also attempted to directly undermine the European project. We are talking about a direct threat to the resilience of European democracy. We are, in fact, under attack. To defend ourselves against disinformation, we need to invest in European citizens’ ability to distinguish between what is true and what is false.”