MisinfoCon 6.0: Three key takeaways

MisinfoCon describes itself as "a global movement focused on building solutions to online trust, verification, fact checking, and reader experience in the interest of addressing misinformation in all of its forms."

On October 23, MisinfoCon hosted a one-day event in London focused on the relationship between misinformation and algorithmic society, elections and media literacy, as part of Mozilla Festival, which runs from October 21-27.

DW Akademie took part in MisinfoCon 6.0 through a lightning talk and panel discussion about media literacy and misinformation. It was an extremely engaging, thought-provoking and inspiring day. Here are our top three takeaways.

Misinformation and Algorithmic Society

Companies need responsible advert policies to ensure they aren’t funding misinformation instead of a free press. They need to be thinking about direct relationships with publishers in order to ensure their brands aren’t enabling misinformation, undermining the free press and funding child sexual abuse. 

— Nadini Jammi- Sleeping Giants/ B2B Communications Consultant

Nadini Jammi from Sleeping Giants highlighted the importance of responsible advertising policies

Misinformation and Elections

Past elections showed a surge in the spread of misinformation during election periods. While self-regulation commitments did not work, research showed as well, that laws and regulations focusing on elections won’t work.

There needs to be transparency in:

• Advertising
• Content moderation and processes
• Appeals and redress
• Algorithms

Any regulation should focus not only on elections but on wider societal issues that are independent of elections.

— Chloe Colliver, Institute for Strategic Dialogue

Misinformation and Media Literacy

Media literacy has to be "collective" and involve platforms, businesses, governments, civil society organizations, educators and citizens.

— Mark Surman, Mozilla

Mozilla Festival

Mozilla Festival Weekend (MozFest) — "Where Web Meets World" — is a seven-day event for, by, and about people who love the internet, showcasing world-changing ideas and technology through workshops, talks, and interactive sessions.

This is aimed primarily at digital innovators, open source activists, educators and implementers. Each year, MozFest features talks from luminaries at the intersection of technology and society. They host hackers, journalists, activists, and other interesting influencers on their stage. This year the focus is on artificial intelligence.

Roslyn Kratochvil Moore is the project manager for Media and Information Literacy (MIL) at DW Akademie.