27 May 2020 – 11h00 to 12h00

Online Conversation – Register here

Fake news and misinformation have become an everyday reality in recent years. However, with the COVID19 pandemic, misinformation and disinformation have spread as rapidly as the virus itself. Threatening the efforts of governments to contain the virus and avoid its proliferation, people online are exposed to a constant stream of dangerous and false information, endearing their health and twisting the perception of reality.  Conspiracy theories and false stories, appearing as facts, have also tried to make personalities and technologies responsible for the spread of the virus, angering sectors of the population and endangering citizens, economic and technological development. 

In an effort to fight misinformation governments and the tech industry alike have taken swift action against the practice of fake news. The European Commission has been vocal on the importance to find all COVID19 related information in official websites and has used social media to push for reliable sources. Several tech giants have also taken actions against misinformation: for example, Google has placed a bank of information in its search engine, sharing official news sources, and Facebook has established a new system for alerting users who have engaged with misinformation related to the coronavirus. 

Are these measures effective enough? How can politics help, in the era of the post-truth? Can governments and tech giants take other measures against Coronavirus? 

Join us on this talk, and let’s discuss how different stakeholders can help to tackle misinformation in times of COVID19.