Disinformation. It threatens public health systems during natural disasters, pandemics and other crises. It can be weaponized for war, as Russia has done with Ukraine. It brings new waves of conspiracy theories and gives fuel to anti-science movements. And perhaps most acutely, it undermines the very fabric of democracy.
Visiting IBS Scholar, Kacper Gradon, knows how perilous disinformation is for democracy. The associate professor of both security and crime science at the University College London (UCL) and cybersecurity at Warsaw University of Technology, was invited by the New York Times and the Democracy & Culture Foundation to present at the Athens Democracy Forum earlier this month. Gradon presented practical actions to “de-fuse” disinformation, including an integrated focus on education, regulation and technology.
During his talk, Gradon provided practical examples from IBS and CU Boulder initiatives. Gradon pointed to the Shakespeare and Violence Prevention Tour from the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. The lies, slander and rumors that belie Shakespearean plays provide a concrete example of the consequences of disinformation for kids. Gradon hopes tools like these can make a meaningful impact.
“No matter how cliché or naïve it might sound, I trust that education (from a very early age) is the key to teach people critical thinking, fact checking and media literacy. Only this way can we protect society from falling prey to manipulation, meddling and brainwashing,” says Gradon.
For regulation, Gradon turned to the deliberations concerning the potential for class action lawsuits against Big Tech and discussions of the legal scholars, such as those of the CU Law School – Silicon Flatirons. Though he recognizes the difficulty in regulating disinformation, he hopes these recent debates will build a movement of accountability.
“In my opinion, the technology that supports the creation and spread of disinformation (especially when it is monetized) must be regulated, and the developers and deployers of such tools must be held accountable for damage done,” says Gradon. “Since the technology enables and increases societal polarization and undermines democracy, it is time for a change.”
As for technology, Gradon believes tech in and of itself is not good or bad. It’s up to us to use technology to screen for disinformation. Gradon recommends three technological methods to help mitigate disinformation:
- Application of Large Language Models to both analyze disinformation and to offer counternarratives
- Analyzing user interactions with true and false content
- Studying multiple modalities (text, images, audio and video) to offer better predictive models
When asked what we can do to prevent disinformation, Gradon advises using open-source research and fact-checking websites, reverse image searches, and most importantly, common sense.
“Develop a healthy habit of waiting before you click “like” or “share” on social media. Sometimes just a couple of minutes allows you to think more reasonably, maybe fact-check, contemplate the opposing viewpoints,” says Gradon. “If we just share uncontrollably, we’re further feeding the algorithms, exacerbating the pace and range of disinformation, and advancing polarization even more.”
Gradon’s talk, “Tools of Democracy: Disinfo De-fused – Protecting Democracy as Truth and Trust Decay,” was well received at the forum. Gradon felt hopeful seeing so many young attendees who were passionate about democracy and hopes this will usher in a new wave of change.
“All of us live in heavily reinforced information bubbles. The algorithms that govern the technology we use actively strengthen these bubbles. We have to realize this and know of the consequences that this brings to our understanding of the world that surrounds us,” says Gradon.
The Athens Democracy Forum was October 1-3, 2024, in Athens, Greece. You can learn more about the forum and view talks here: https://www.athensdemocracyforum.com.
