LIST OF PANELS

The spread of disinformation is a global challenge undermining democracies around the world. The rise in conspiratorial beliefs, radicalization and polarization is often being blamed on the new digital information ecosystem that rewards engagement over authenticity of information. But digital disinformation is a classic wicked problem — the challenge has no definitive formulation or determinable stopping point such that a single policy solution will solve it; and potential solutions can be contradictory, incomplete or create other challenges, not least of which in this case is the potential to infringe on the right to free expression. 

Such a problem calls for a complex set of actions from different actors, including governments, online platforms, news media, educational institutions and users, to mitigate rather than ‘solve’ its impacts. The transnational spread of online disinformation adds additional geopolitical complexity to potential policy responses, particularly where it is intentionally generated or spread by adversarial actors.

This onsite panel will explore the question: What are potential concrete policy options to respond to the challenge of online disinformation? The panel discussion will reflect on the ways in which potential policy responses interact with each other and could create counter-effects. It will also reflect on how different proposed approaches might apply in different platform contexts, such as private messaging platforms compared to more open platforms, such as YouTube or Twitter. It will aim to feature proactive educational efforts to inoculate against the effects of disinformation, such as digital literacy efforts in schools and communities and support for independent journalism. It will also review proactive platform features to mitigate the potential spread of disinformation, such as restrictions on bots or coordinated inauthentic behaviour, policies against disinformation through paid ads, or platform tools to encourage users to verify information or search for additional context. It will also feature reactive platform responses designed to counteract the effects of disinformation, such as warning or context labels on synthetic media or disinformation identified by fact-checkers and algorithm changes intended to de-prioritize such content or more broadly news or political content. Finally, it will review government policy responses that have gained particular traction, such as platform governance efforts underway to require platforms to evaluate and mitigate systemic risks, legal transparency requirements, and in its more extreme form, policies ordering the removal of specific content under certain emergency conditions.

This panel seeks papers outlining potential policy options to respond to the wicked problem of disinformation on online platforms, particularly in the context of transnational spread and spread by adversarial actors.

Papers will ideally feature at least one of four broad types of policy response:

-- proactive educational efforts;

-- proactive platform features;

-- reactive platform responses; and

-- government policy responses.

Papers could focus on a type of disinformation (e.g., political, health information, etc.) or more broadly. Papers should outline the theoretical underpinnings and evidence that exists about the policy options, ideally in a global and/or historical context, as well as potential risks or counter-effects of such a response. Papers should outline the actors that play a role in such a policy response, and the types of online platforms that the response may apply to. Papers that critique potential responses or the need for a response are also welcome. The goal of the panel is to outline a range of concrete solutions to the global spread of disinformation and its harms to societies, while wrestling with how potential solutions may be contradictory, incomplete or create other challenges, not least of which in this case is the potential to infringe on the right to free expression.