Howard University: Independent Media as a Counterweight to Online Disinformation Targeted toward Communities of Color Online?

Date: Thursday, September 30, 2021
Time: 11:30AM to 12:30 PM ET

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In recent years, social platforms in the U.S. have grown in importance as distributors of news and other information, and this shift in how media are amplified has been accompanied by a rise in disinformation. Researchers have long highlighted the essential role of free, independent, and diverse media as a counterweight to mitigate disinformation.

CDT released a report “Facts and their Discontents: A Research Agenda for Online Disinformation Race and Gender,” which highlighted the relationship between independent media and online dis and misinformation with respect to the widespread harms of disinformation on communities of color. This session continues that discussion with a distinguished panel of experts.

Panelists: 

• Nora Benavidez, Senior Counsel and Director, Digital Justice and Civil Rights, Free Press
• Rachel Kuo, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
• Maria Rodriguez, Assistant Professor, University of Buffalo School of Social Work
• Saiph Savage, Assistant Professor, Northeastern University, Khoury College of Computer Sciences and Director of the Civic A.I. Lab

Moderator: DeVan Hankerson Madrigal, Research Manager, Center for Democracy & Technology