Event

Online Event: “Lie Machines: How Disinformation Threatens Democracy and How to Save It” | NED

June 10, 2020 11:00 am 12:00 pm

“While disinformation is not new to politics, today’s technologies enable political actors to manipulate the information ecosystem at scale and with great speed. Through massive networks of fake accounts, junk news sites, and the strategic use of conspiracy theories, half-truths, and falsehoods, authoritarian regimes and others are suffocating and dividing the public square. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, authoritarian governments and illiberal actors are drawing on similar approaches to discredit democracy while shaping international understandings of their response to the disease.

These “lie machines” are aided by expanding troves of data on individuals and an information ecosystem that facilitates polarization, outrage, and social distrust. The net result of their efforts is deadly to democracy. A new book by Philip Howard, director of the Oxford Internet Institute, describes how these machines operate—and how they can be taken apart.

FEATURING

Philip Howard, Oxford Internet Institute

Laura Rosenberger, Alliance for Securing Democracy

Daniel Arnaudo, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs

MODERATED BY

Shanthi Kalathil, International Forum for Democratic Studies”

Details

Date:
June 10, 2020
Time:
11:00 am – 12:00 pm