Policy Conference | Online political influence and misinformation

Conference summary

Online platforms, such as Facebook and X, have had profound effects on democratic processes. By enabling individual users to connect to millions of other users (and potential voters), they have empowered citizen journalists and grassroot movements. At the same time, they have dramatically accelerated the spread of mis- and disinformation in society in the form of fake news and conspiracy theories. Many online misinformation campaigns are conducted by foreign actors, who seek to sow discord and distrust in liberal democratic values. Our conference aims to bring together academics, policymakers and civil society to highlight these online threats and discuss how our societies can respond to them.

Keynote speaker

Jacob Shapiro (Princeton University)

Professor Shapiro will be talking about Russian foreign influence campaigns in Western democracies. His lecture will be followed by two policy panels on (i) Russian disinformation campaigns and (ii) Social media and media literacy featuring policymakers, journalists and academics.

Speakers

• Magnus Hjort (Director General of the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency) 
• Yelyzaveta Chekhovska (Senior Analyst at VoxCheck, VoxUkraine)
• Sonja Buchegger (Professor of Computer Science at KTH)
• Zhenqi Liu (Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School)
• Inga Springe (Investigative journalist and co-founder of Re:Baltica)
• Michael Rochlitz (Associate Professor at the University of Oxford)

Registration and program

The event will take place in the Aula, located in the main building of SSE and the registration opens at 13.30 outside the Aula.

Please proceed with your registration via the Trippus platform by clicking the following link (see here). See the program in the following link (see here).

Please contact site@hhs.se if you have any questions regarding the event.

Photo: CHUYKO SERGEY, Shutterstock