During the webinar “Strengthening truth: Challenges of disinformation at a global level” the organizers of the fourth Global Summit on Disinformation, including Carlos Lauría, Executive Director of the Inter American Press Association, Soledad Arréguez, Education Coordinator of Proyecto Desconfío, Renán Estenssoro, Executive Director of the Fundación para el Periodismo, and Adrián Pino, Executive Director of Proyecto Desconfío, expressed their ideas, reflections and visions on the need to strengthen all mechanisms for verifying information in a world where generative AI is increasingly used by those who seek to spread disinformation.

Moderated by Guadalupe López, the panelists shared their insights, exchanged opinions, and announced that registration for the Summit will open on Thursday, July 25, to an audience of more than 80 participants from at least 10 countries.

Throughout the session, speakers discussed the regional context, the need for better-prepared communication professionals and journalists amid a growing atmosphere of distrust, the importance of media literacy for audiences, and the urgency of strengthening democracies heavily impacted by disinformation in a year where half the world’s population will go to the polls.

Carlos Lauría highlighted: “Deliberate disinformation is exploited and capitalized on by political actors to consolidate power and, above all, to silence dissenting voices and manipulate public opinion.”

Soledad Arréguez emphasized the importance of educating audiences:
“Media and information literacy, known as MIL, will play a crucial role in combating disinformation. It’s a longer road, and results
will take time because it requires a cultural shift in how audiences begin to deal with all the information content they receive.”

Adrián Pino added, “The peculiarity of this disinformation phenomenon is that those who seek to cause harm are much more prepared than other actors to use technologies like AI. The adoption level of artificial intelligence in newsrooms is still very low. We need more acceleration programs to introduce more journalists to the world of AI.”

“Lies are becoming normalized and face no sanctions. A lying authority is not removed from office; on the contrary, many times they are rewarded for that lie. According to the Washington Post, during President Trump’s 1,386 days in office, he made 29,508 false and misleading claims,” stated Renán Estenssoro.

The full July 10 webinar is now available on the Summit YouTube channel.

The Summit
The fourth edition of the Global Summit on Disinformation will take place on September 18-19, 2024. Organized jointly by the Inter-American Press Association, the Fundación para el Periodismo (Bolivia), and Proyecto Desconfío (Argentina), this event brings together journalists, researchers, academics, fact-checkers, media and government representatives, civil society organizations, professors and students. Over the years, the Summit has become an essential gathering in the global fight against disinformation.

The Google News Initiative supports the IV Global Summit on Disinformation.

Event partners include the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), IJNet and IJNet en Español, Medianálisis, the National Press Association of Chile (ANP), Fundación GABO, the Colombian Association of Information Media (AMI), and the Association of Journalistic Entities or Argentina (ADEPA).