RightsCon

11 – 14 June 2019, Tunis, Tunisia

Samantha Bradshaw and Mona Elswah will be presenting a session at RightsCon titled ‘Beyond Bots: Anticipating challenges from future tech and disinformation’ on Thursday, 13 June, 5:15-6:30pm.

The session will provide participants space to discuss how emerging technologies—especially in the areas of synthetic media, machine-learning augmented automation, and precision propaganda— might affect the work of journalists, civil society, and other stakeholders present in the room. In this interactive session, participants will be asked to discuss current media trends and anticipated technological advancements relevant to the spread of disinformation, and how these developments may enable political actors to inflame political divides, diminish social trust, or suppress civic mobilization. Based on the concerns identified, participants will then discuss what can be done to proactively mitigate future challenges and how media and civil society can adapt in a scenario where preventative measures fail to take hold.