Description:

The global information environment is undergoing a significant transformation, as major social media platforms and government institutions retreat from their active roles in combating disinformation. Platforms such as Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok are scaling back centralized moderation and professional fact-checking efforts, even defunding global fact-checking organizations, and increasingly shifting the responsibility for addressing disinformation onto everyday users. At the same time, the U.S. government has shuttered key programs, such as the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, withdrawn funding from regional and independent media outlets that counter propaganda and disinformation, and discontinued support for academic research in this area, signaling a broader institutional disengagement.

These shifts mark the emergence of a “post-moderation” era—one in which individuals and communities must take greater responsibility for identifying, interpreting, and responding to disinformation without the robust gatekeeping of the past. This symposium convenes global experts and practitioners from industry, public policy, academia, and civil society to address four urgent priorities for this new era: sustaining trust and credibility in information flows; strengthening accountability for platforms, governments, and users alike; advancing innovative tools and strategies to counter disinformation; and forging multi-sector collaboration to build resilient information ecosystems worldwide. 

This symposium is organized by the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and the Center for Communication & Public Policy at Northwestern University and co-sponsored by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation of America.

To attend virtually, register via Zoom. To attend in person, click the register button below.

Schedule of Events on Day 1: Thursday, January 22
Location: Chicago Council on Global Affairs, One Pru Plaza, 130 E Randolph St Suite 1650, Chicago, IL 60601

5:15 – 5:30 PM | Opening Remarks

Deborah Cohen, Richard W. Leopold Professor of History and Director of the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, Northwestern University

Erik C. Nisbet, Owen L. Coon Professor of Policy Analysis & Communication and Director of the Center for Communication & Public Policy, Northwestern University

Leslie Vinjamuri, President and CEO, Chicago Council on Global Affairs

5:30 – 6:45 PM | Opening Keynote Panel on Global Disinformation in a Post-Moderation World

Ellen McCarthy, Founder & CEO, Trust in Media Cooperative and former Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence & Research

James Warren, Executive Editor, NewsGuard

Suzanne Nossel, Lester Crown Nonresident Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy and International Order at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Moderated by Leslie Vinjamuri, President and CEO, Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Description:

The global information environment is undergoing a significant transformation, as major social media platforms and government institutions retreat from their active roles in combating disinformation. Platforms such as Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok are scaling back centralized moderation and professional fact-checking efforts, even defunding global fact-checking organizations, and increasingly shifting the responsibility for addressing disinformation onto everyday users. At the same time, the U.S. government has shuttered key programs, such as the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, withdrawn funding from regional and independent media outlets that counter propaganda and disinformation, and discontinued support for academic research in this area, signaling a broader institutional disengagement.

These shifts mark the emergence of a “post-moderation” era—one in which individuals and communities must take greater responsibility for identifying, interpreting, and responding to disinformation without the robust gatekeeping of the past. This symposium convenes global experts and practitioners from industry, public policy, academia, and civil society to address four urgent priorities for this new era: sustaining trust and credibility in information flows; strengthening accountability for platforms, governments, and users alike; advancing innovative tools and strategies to counter disinformation; and forging multi-sector collaboration to build resilient information ecosystems worldwide.

Co-hosted by the Roberta Buffet Institute for Global Affairs and the Center for Communication & Public Policy at Northwestern University.

To attend virtually, register via Zoom. To attend in person, click the register button below.

Confirmed Speakers

Imran Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer, Center for Countering Digital Hate

David Bray, Distinguished Chair of the Accelerator at the Stimson Center (USA)

Angie Drobnic Holan, Director of International Factchecking Network at Poynter Institute (USA)

Shih-Hung Lo, Chairman, Taiwanese Factchecking Center (Taiwan)

Ellen McCarthy, Founder & CEO Trust in Media Cooperative and former Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence & Research (USA)

Andrew Pel, Head of Campaigns, Moonshot

Gordon Pennycook, Associate Professor, Cornell University (USA)

Viktoria Romaniuk, Deputy Chief Editor of StopFake and Director of Mohyla School of Journalism

Erin Saltman, Membership and Programs Senior Director, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT)

Emily Vraga, Don and Carole Larson Professorship in Health Communication, University of Minnesota Twin Cities (USA)

James Warren, Executive Editor NewsGuard (USA)