About
A new series with Logically, the world’s largest fact-checking team. They have made it their mission to address the structural challenges of the digital information age, unregulated platforms and put a stop to ‘fake news’.
Our series on fake news:
Staying ahead of misinformation, globally: The changing nature of news, social media and journalism around the world (29 September)
Fake news has entered the global lexicon in the last four years. Online platforms unite communities from across continents; however, greater interconnectivity has also broadened the scope of mis/disinformation. Following sessions on misinformation in India and the US, this session by Logically looks at global trends and seek to identify how the confluence of misinformation, journalism and social media may converge or diverge in the coming years. It will seek to cover a broad range of issues, including:
- How does fake news influence international relations between countries?
- Does fake news predominantly come from a small group of malicious global actors? To what extent is the public responsible for innocently disseminating and pollinating such information?
- In using AI to tackle fake news, how problematic are the challenges of inscrutability (the models defy human understanding) and non-intuitiveness (why do the statistical relationships exist as they do?) in applying transparency effectively?
- Are certain countries more/less immune to fake news? Will the Finnish model of teaching school pupils to spot slippery information the way to go?
- Or is the recent Brazilian Bill passed by the Senate the way to go? What trade-offs does it present for privacy and freedom of expression?
- How might fake news evolve and evade identification in the coming years? What is being done to combat this?
Speakers:
- Ed Vaizey, Former Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries
- Marianna Spring, Specialist Disinformation and Social Media Reporter, BBC News
- Viji Alles, Presenter, BBC Radio 4 (Moderator)
- Lyric Jain, Founder and CEO, Logically
- Ansgar Koene, Global AI Ethics and Regulatory Leader, EY
- Hazel Baker, Global Head of UGC Newsgathering, Reuters
Combating Fake News Ahead of November: Choosing what to believe in a swell of misinformation (9 September)
The pandemic has given rise to a growing set of misleading content about testing, prevention and the origins of the disease. Inadvertently, respected friends and colleagues may also share conspiracy theories without malicious intent. With the Presidential and Congressional elections soon approaching, fake news will be a key phenomenon influencing public opinion. Within this context, the session brings together a range of eminent panellists to discuss:
- Is the nature of misinformation different today than it was in the lead up to the 2016 Elections?
- How is it created, amplified and spread?
- Conversations on AI ethics, that may govern how organisations identify fake news, sometimes crowd out discussions on formal law and governance that more directly respond to accountability concerns. To what extent is this an issue?
- How can AI and human fact-checkers work together to better inform the public?
This important session is organised by Logically, the world’s largest fact-checking team. They have made it their mission to address the structural challenges of the digital information age, unregulated platforms and put a stop to ‘fake news’.
Speakers:
- Asha Rangappa, Senior Lecturer and CNN Legal and National Security Analyst
- Baybars Örsek, Director, International Fact-Checking Network at the Poynter Institute
- Annafi Wahed, Founder and CEO, The Flip Side (Moderator)
- Al Baker, Senior Editor, Logically
- Vera Zakem, Senior Technology and Policy Advisor, Institute for Security and Technology; Former Director, Global Strategy and Research, Twitter
Combating fake news in a ‘sharing’ nation (Monday 24th August)
Watch it on Facebook here or on YouTube here.
India has undergone something of a digital revolution in recent years, with consumer technology growing at a remarkable rate. Unsurprisingly, social media companies have benefitted from the nation’s growing connectivity, with the nation’s active social media users growing by 24% between 2018 and 2019. Such growth in misinformation-friendly platforms has had inevitable consequences on the information ecosystem in India. With Covid-19, actor Sushant Singh’s suicide, the pandemic ruling out in-person rallies ahead of Bihar state elections in November, there are plenty of opportunities for groups, often with hundreds of members, to become echo chambers congenial to the spread of misinformation. In such environments, a network of potential propagators are ready to embrace content supporting their common worldview.
This trend is expected to continue and exacerbate in the coming years. The role of social media in spreading misinformation is well established; the engagement-oriented content discovery algorithms and gossip rather than detailed and balanced journalism. WhatsApp is the most likely significant avenue by which misinformation is circulated in India. Significant not just because of the frequency in which it is used, but also because of its encrypted nature.
This session is jointly organised by Bridge India and Logically, which employs the world’s largest dedicated fact-checking team, working together with their in-house AI to provide rigorous, evidence-based fact checks. Logically helps with ecosystem building in India, supporting fact-checking organisations with capacity building and public sector partners with timely interventions. This session will offer unique insights into:
- What fuels misinformation and what are its implications for democracies?
- What topics are most exploited to spread misinformation in India?
- How sceptical is the average Indian reader? To what extent do they read multiple trusted sources to verify the information they receive?
- How might the dissemination of misinformation in India evolve in the coming years, and what can be done to slow the growth?
- How does this compare to other large democracies, such as the US and UK?
Speakers:
- Sanjay Suri, Europe correspondent, Network18 group (Moderator)
- Lyric Jain, Founder and CEO, Logically
- Saurabh Shukla, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, News Mobile
- Maya Mirchandani, Asst. Professor, Ashoka University; Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation
- Kritika Goel, Assistant Editor, The Quint
- Amber Sinha, Executive Director, Centre for Internet and Society