ع
Barack Obama addressed a packed auditorium at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, reflecting on global challenges and the impact of technology on democracy during an event that drew significant attention across Scottish media. He observed that forces mobilising people around democracy and human rights could also be harnessed by hate groups, according to STV News. The former president noted how online platforms initially connected people for positive purposes but increasingly amplified negative instincts.
According to a report by STV News on the speech, Obama said the reptilian side of the human brain is drawn to anger, fear, resentment and the belief that someone is out to get you. He added that much of social media and information flow is now shaped by those impulses, contributing to polarisation. Yet Obama stated explicitly that this drift towards extremism is not inevitable.
Obama referenced post-World War Two actions in the United States and Europe, where governments established rules to counter propaganda after witnessing its power in the hands of figures like Hitler, a point covered by both STV News and The Scotsman. He argued for holding technology companies responsible to prevent big lies, misinformation and incitement to violence. The former president described the current information environment as a key factor in why politics has become so polarised and why populism is rising in many countries.
The Institute for Economics and Peace’s Global Terrorism Index 2026 reported that deaths from terrorism worldwide fell 28 percent to 5,582 in 2025, marking the lowest level since 2007, even as incidents dropped 22 percent to 2,944. However, the same assessment found that terrorism fatalities in the West rose sharply by 280 percent to 57 last year, driven largely by antisemitism, Islamophobia and political extremism. Pakistan topped the index for the first time with 1,139 deaths recorded in 2025, while six of the 10 most affected countries remained in sub-Saharan Africa.
Days earlier in Belfast, Obama told students at Queen’s University that peace and democracy are not inevitable, as reported by the Belfast Telegraph, while discussing the Israel-Gaza conflict and the need for an immediate cessation of violence to enable longer-term solutions. He expressed being less hopeful in the short term due to hardened attitudes following the October 7 attacks and subsequent developments. The former president nevertheless affirmed his belief in the idea that the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice, urging ordinary citizens to engage in community activism to reduce violence, hatred, poverty and loneliness.
Obama told the Glasgow audience that the information diet fed to brains daily through social media and emerging artificial intelligence makes it increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood, according to The Scotsman. He warned this unhealthy environment particularly discourages young people and could worsen with advancing AI capabilities. The former US president concluded that despite these substantial challenges, humanity has overcome difficult periods before and can do better again if people choose to fight for hope and shared values.
