The development of social media "has produced an inability to agree even on basic facts," and these advances "are too often exploited by actors intent on sowing discord in our societies and ultimately risk undermining our democracies". This was stated by the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Italy's Paolo Gentiloni, in Venice, in a video message to the fifth conference of the Soft Power Club, organized by Francesco Rutelli. Gentiloni then spoke of a "polarization that risks creating opposing camps unable to find common ground. In the hopes of many," Gentiloni stressed, "the rise of social media was supposed to democratize access to information and provide a new digital marketplace of ideas. Today we see all too clearly that this vision was naïve, to say the least. The spread of online misinformation has produced an inability to agree on even basic facts, with algorithms rewarding those who appeal to our worst emotions, fear, and hatred. Advances in artificial intelligence allow us to have deepfake videos indistinguishable from reality. And these advances are too often exploited by malicious actors. A worrying trend," he concluded, "particularly evident in the United States, but it should not be underestimated in Europe as well".