Sep 13. 2022

Europe Tackles Information Chaos, a conference organized by CEDMO

Prague, September 13th, 2022 – On 22 and 23 September, the city of Prague will host an International conference under the auspices of the Czech Presidency of the European Union. Leading experts and key stakeholders – including NGOs, academics, think tanks and journalists  – will address a range of topics linked to the infodemic of misinformation and disinformation.

The aim of the conference:

  • To tackle the growing disenchantment with democratic processes, and institutional distrust and discord in civil society across Europe.
  • To gather a multidisciplinary community focused on fighting disinformation in Europe, and to organise discussions and debates between the key partners representing the EU, public institutions, think tanks, civil society/NGOs, academia, and the private sector.
  • To enable dialogue on the positive and negative role of tech companies in European democratic societes; identify areas where regulation can target the negative effects of disinformation, and advise on ways in which tech companies’ own actions could improve democratic outcomes.
  • To mark the first anniversary of EDMO (European Digital Media Observatory) regional hubs.
  • To promote this year’s Czech Presidency of the EU, and to discuss the country’s efforts at fighting disinformation.

Among the speakers at the conference will be: 

  • Auksė Balčytienė, Vytautas Magnus University
  • Mária Bieliková, Kempelen Institute of Intelligent Technologies 
  • Kalina Bontcheva, University of Sheffield 
  • Věra Jourová, European Commission
  • Danny Kemp, AFP journalist 
  • Karina Stasiuk-Krajewska, SWPS University
  • Tomáš Kriššák, Gerulata Technologies      
  • Ľuboš Kukliš, European Platform of Regulatory Authorities      
  • Václav Moravec, Charles University     
  • Petr Očko, Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade
  • Gianni Riotta, LUISS Guido Carli University
  • Jochen Spangenberg, Deutsche Welle     
  • Alexander Stubb, European University Institute     
  • Lauri Tierala, European Digital Media Observatory
  • Jocelyne Zablit, Agence France-Presse      
  • Jacek Żakowski, Gazeta Wyborcza and Collegium Civitas

Discover the full programme and register to attend online for free.

For further information please contact: cedmo@cedmohub.eu

About CEDMO

The CEDMO consortium, led by the Charles University (Czech Republic), involves eight partners and five subcontractors. Its greatest strength is the diverse team of technical and humanities scientists with journalists and fact checking professionals: the addressed problem is inherently multidisciplinary and requires attention from multiple angles.

From the consortium members, ATC (Greece) is responsible for the development of the technical infrastructure. Immediate disinformation responses and daily fact checking is delivered by seasoned professionals of the international news agency Agence France-Presse and the Czech Demagog.cz. Researchers from Kempelen Institute of Intelligent Technologies (Slovakia) and the Czech Technical University, who have extensive experience with artificial intelligence, NLP (Natural Language Processing) and machine learning, are developing methods and digital tools to improve and speed up debunking. Other consortium members are researching the impact of disinformation on the society. These members include the Charles University, the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava (Slovakia), the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Poland). On top of that, the Charles University leads the integration of technical and humanities branches of the consortium through interdisciplinary research initiatives.

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