Social media and (mis)information

MEETINGS

Three receptions that will help you get a better understanding of current affairs.
You can follow the highlights of the receptions on our website: www.prixbayeux.org
Sponsored by Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles.

WEDNESDAY 8 OCTOBER – 8.30 pm

Social media and (mis)information

Algorithms have never posed such a powerful threat to information. Journalism must now fight against a hybrid, permanent and powerful enemy: disinformation and misinformation. Can we still get information from social media? How can we trust it, how can we know, how can we fight back? Information, especially that coming from the field and from reporting, must now face enemy armies, those of ‘fake news’ used for commercial or military purposes. Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has been making extensive use of AI tools to push its ‘narrative.’ In the US election campaign, X, formerly Twitter, played a huge role, directly controlled by Elon Musk to help Donald Trump get re-elected. We can distinguish three types of threats, which we will return to later:
-disinformation or misinformation, which have always existed
-algorithms, which spread and amplify them, sometimes deliberately for propaganda purposes, but also for commercial reasons or simply mechanically, and which contribute to creating bubbles and silos
-generative AI, which makes it possible to fabricate disinformation on an unprecedented scale and at unprecedented speed, but also to blur the distinction between truth and falsehood (to the point of polluting itself)

To try to gain a clearer understanding, but also to learn more about the tools and threats, we are hosting an evening of discussion with Elsa Guiol, documentary filmmaker and editor-in-chief of the series ‘La fabrique du mensonge’ (The Lie Factory), David Colon, historian and professor at Sciences Po, specialist in propaganda, and Adrien Jaulmes, senior reporter and correspondent for Le Figaro in the United States. The evening will be moderated by Lucas Menget.

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Halle Ô Grains
66, rue Saint Jean
Doors open at 8 pm
Free Admission