Nina Jankowicz - Normalisation of Disinformation as Political Tool Accelerating Distrust in Democracy

We are at risk of losing the information war. The widespread  normalisation of disinformation as a political tool is accelerating  distrust in democratic institutions and processes. But online  disinformation has offline consequences, as we saw during the  coronavirus pandemic and on January 6th in Washington. Malicious actors  such as Russia and China have also proved adept at weaponizing  information for their foreign policy objectives. Governments have held  off from intervening strongly in the online media sphere, for fear of  wrecking classical, enlightened liberalism, but at what cost? What are  the risks that online disinformation will contribute to the dismantling  of democracy?

Nina Jankowicz is an author, advocate for targets of online abuse and  internationally recognized expert on disinformation and democratization.  Her debut book, How to Lose the Information War (Bloomsbury 2020), was  named a New Statesman 2020 book of the year. Her second book came out  last year and is called: ‘How to Be a Woman Online’. Nina is Currently  the Vice President, U.S., at the Centre for Information Resilience. She  has advised governments, international organizations, and tech  companies. She has also testified before the United States Congress, UK  Parliament, and European Parliament. Jankowicz has extensive media  experience, and has bene published in many major American newspapers and  magazines, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The  Atlantic. She is a regular guest on major radio and television programs  such as the PBS Newshour, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and Amanpour, and the  BBC World Service. She is fluent in Russian and speaks proficient  Ukrainian and Polish.