Next Friday: Here’s what you'll get from the upcoming webinar on disinformation

Two expert panels and a workshop with journalists will let you in on some of the digital media’s best-kept secrets for distinguishing fact from fiction

The date for the Read Twice (R2) informative webinar “Beyond the Headlines: Tools and Skills to Detect Disinfo in the News” is fast approaching so this is a good moment to pay attention to what’s in store for you.

The webinar, organized by Euro Advance Association as part of the pan-European Read Twice (R2) project, will take place on 12 January, 9:00-14:30 CET. It will be free to view, with prior registration here.

Taking place during a single morning, the digital event packs a formidable punch thanks to an array of digital media experts coming from all walks of life. No matter your situation and concerns about the spread of disinformation online, you’ll be sure to gain useful knowledge on the topic.

We kick off with a panel on AI and disinformation

The webinar will start strong with the topic on everyone’s mind and one that is sure to continue dominating the popular imagination and affect our lives in 2024. We’re talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI).

And talk about it we will with a moderated discussion, including ample time for you to ask the questions that concern you. Here are the prominent experts who will lock intellectual horns over the ethical issues that arise when AI and disinformation meet in the digital field.

Andrey Stoycheff, Director of NTCenter, will present to you his work, which includes intriguing findings in the sphere of cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience and neurolinguistics. He’ll show the insidious nature of disinformation which takes advantage of our cognitive biases.

Dr Federica Russo, who is Full Professor in Philosophy and Ethics of Techno-Science, at Utrecht University, and Editor-in-chief of Digital Society, will share the lessons learned from the SOLARIS project on deepfakes. She will bring a philosophical perspective to the whole debate to help us reflect more carefully on the ideas of technology and science as they apply to our human nature. Listen closely, it is bound to be enthralling!

Did you know that Finland is a country that consistently scores top marks in global media literacy ranking? Why is that so, and what can we learn from the Finnish example? Dr Kari Kivinen, from FaktaBaari (FactBar), will reveal the “secrets” behind the successes in that society. Dr. Kivinen works at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) Observatory, where he provides expertise and studies the issue of education on our continent. Hear him speak, he might change your idea about what school education should be and how AI can overhaul this field so it will face the challenges of the future.

The second panel looks behind the scenes of info and disinfo

Following a coffee break, a new set of experts will take the stage in order to deconstruct the idea of disinformation to its basic parts in a way that will make it easy to digest and inspire you to re-examine the way we consume information when we open our screens.

Laura Banté is a Swiss influencer and content creator with 700,000+ followers on TikTok. She dazzles her audience with creative and eye-catching lifestyle posts and now she’ll dazzle you with the revelation of the work that goes behind garnering attention on social media. Keep your notebooks ready for this one, it will be sure to help you boost your next Insta post popularity.

From the world of digital glamour, we’ll transition to a completely different field, yet still one that concerns all of us – the upcoming European Parliament elections. They will determine the way the EU will go forward for the next five years. It all sounds like a standard exercise in democracy until you remember that nowadays rampant disinformation and propaganda campaigns have become part and parcel of the election process and prevent us from making an informed choice.

This is why Sara Ahnborg, Press Officer at the European Parliament Spokesperson’s Service, will help prepare us for the possible lies, half-truths and fabrications that could accompany the election campaign in your country.

And if you think that disinformation is just something that happens on the Internet and has no application to the real world, Dr Keith Peter Kiely, an Experienced Researcher at the GATE Institute, will sober up that mindset with two case studies from Bulgaria. These will show insights from his research on recent disinformation campaigns in the country and how vulnerable people can be to them.

Fact-checking workshop from those in the know

Theories, narratives and examples surely are engaging and interesting to hear, but the final stage of learning comes when you have the tools to practice and do something about the spread of disinformation. The last part of the webinar will show you directly how to fight your own fact-checking battles and how to defend yourself from lies.

Tilman Wagner is an Innovation Manager working on Research and Cooperation Projects at Deutsche Welle, one of the most prominent media outlets in Europe. And he will teach you how to verify information. It may sound complex, however, and fortunately, there are tools available to aid you in this daily task.

Then Ivo Neto, Foreign Affairs Editor at Publico, will take the stage to show you how the far right is manipulating readers’ perceptions through the appropriation of official newspaper images and brands in Portugal. It will be eye-opening and truly revelatory to understand how you are the target of disinformation campaigns and how you can stop being that.

Come to the webinar with an open mind and come out of it confident in your media literacy abilities. Do not forget to register here to get your free ticket.

About Read Twice

Read Twice is a project, which has evolved over the past year to underscore the urgency and enhance the skills of young people to withstand the onslaught of digital disinformation and propaganda that now form an integral part of the social media experience.

The partnership involves Euro Advance Association (Bulgaria), as coordinator, Udruga Echo (Croatia) and Se Poate (Romania) associations as well as CICANT Research centre (Lusofona University, Portugal) and Alliance4Europe (Germany) as expert partners.

The project’s activities included capacity-building sessions in Germany and Portugal for media-savvy Eastern European youth. These youngsters then conducted peer-to-peer lectures and workshops back in their countries with the aim of engaging a wider youth group when it comes to more responsible and smarter digital media consumption.

Now, Read Twice opens the scope even further by giving you a unique chance to gain some insight and useful skills that are sure to change the way you read the news and perceive social media content going forward.