Hate News: Manipulators, Trolls & Influencers

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What is the relation between deliberate spread of hate online and political manipulation?

As part of the Disruption Network Lab thematic series "Misinformation Ecosystems" (2018), this event looks into the online and offline consequences of spreading hate and false facts in the context of social media and the press, and analyses technological and social responses to these phenomena.

On May 25, conference speakers will reflect on the issue of option manipulation in the political context, from the interconnections of traditional and online media in the misinformation ecosystem in Kenya, to the privacy implications of social media within the Cambridge Analytica debacle.

On May 26, the conference investigates how hate comments and false reports contribute limiting our freedom of speech. Focus will be stories of people that have been trapped in and affected by hate campaigns and sexual assault online and offline: from one side, understanding the general causes that led to the spreading of hate speech as political and social phenomena, and from the other side, addressing people that experienced these phenomena themselves. Finally, speakers will present initiatives generating truth within the fog of “fake news”, as well as dealing with legal and social consequences of strategically deleting or influencing posts and comments in social media.

On May 27, we will have a look at the shadowy underworld of the Internet where questionable content is removed. Who is controlling what we write and what we read on social media?