Tech-enabled dis- and misinformation, social platforms, and geopolitics | Atlantic Council

Join the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center and Digital Forensic Research Lab on Wednesday, February 3, at 12:00 p.m. ET for a special “GeoTech Hour” on the role that social media platforms play in enabling modern mis- and disinformation.

In an age of hyper-connectivity and expansive digitization, social platforms play an outsized role in public life, serving as a sort of infrastructure for everything from academia and journalism, to public service and elections. Individuals across the world have unprecedented access to new information each day, and these social technologies are increasingly being relied upon by communities to organize and enact change. Many of these technologies were formed in the era of “techno-utopianism” — assuming a more connected and informed population would mean more open and democratic societies— but they have increasingly become the tools through which bad actors drive division. Whether through coordinated information operations or a simple retweet without verification, false or misleading information can spread rapidly and easily on social platforms, which, in turn, can undermine democratic processes or exacerbate public health crises.

[…]