April Topic: Tackling Misinformation by Preempting It

5 p.m. EDT // 4 p.m. CDT // 3 p.m. MDT // 2 p.m. PDT // 1 p.m. AKDT

Presented in partnership with the League of Women Voters of Alaska

Misinformation online is a complex problem, and there is no silver bullet to curb its worst effects. But there is a promising new approach to get out ahead of online manipulation — one that is catching the attention of governments, companies, and researchers. "Prebunking" (proactively teaching people to spot how a manipulation technique works) provides a layer of mental protection before individuals encounter misleading content. Jigsaw has spent the last 4 years refining prebunking as short form videos that can be shared online as ads or posts, helping people protect themselves right where they get misled by misinformation. Ahead of Indonesia's recent elections, Jigsaw and Google teamed up with local civil society and the Indonesian Election Commission to run a prebunking campaign that protected over 90 million Indonesians from election misinformation. Join us for a discussion about how prebunking is being scaled in a year of global elections and how you can help preempt misinformation.

Our guest is Beth Goldberg. Beth is the Head of Research & Development at Jigsaw, a Google unit that explores threats to open societies. Beth is also a Senior Fellow and Lecturer at Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs where she teaches graduate courses on misinformation and AI. At Jigsaw, she leads an interdisciplinary team of researchers who investigate online harms from AI-generated disinformation to violent extremism, then test novel mitigation strategies. Prior to joining Jigsaw, she managed programs for the US Department of State with Freedom House focusing on digital security, investigative journalism and information access in authoritarian regimes.

Suggested reading:

• Prebunking with Google
• Reuters: Exclusive: Google to launch anti-misinformation campaign ahead of EU elections

About the series:

Disinformation. Conspiracy theories. Extremism. Surveillance. Our democracy is threatened as never before by toxic online content. The social media giants seem unable, or in some cases unwilling, to control the flood of lies and manipulative practices. The staggering — often hidden — reach of Big Tech into our lives endangers civil society, our civil rights, and our privacy. In a "post-truth" world we risk losing the shared understanding that underpins our democracy. 

Each month, we explore a different facet of this crisis with guest experts. Join us to learn, discuss, and work on possible solutions.