Global Disinformation in a Post-Moderation World (Day 2)

Global Disinformation in a Post-Moderation World

Hosted by Northwestern University's Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and Center for Communication & Public Policy in partnership with the Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation of America and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs

The global information environment is undergoing a significant transformation, as major social media platforms and government institutions retreat from their active roles in combating disinformation. Platforms such as Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok are scaling back centralized moderation and professional fact-checking efforts, even defunding global fact-checking organizations, and increasingly shifting the responsibility for addressing disinformation onto everyday users. At the same time, the US government has shuttered key programs, such as the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, withdrawn funding from regional and independent media outlets that counter propaganda and disinformation, and discontinued support for academic research in this area, signaling a broader institutional disengagement.

These shifts mark the emergence of a “post-moderation” era—one in which individuals and communities must take greater responsibility for identifying, interpreting, and responding to disinformation without the robust gatekeeping of the past. This symposium convenes global experts and practitioners from industry, public policy, academia, and civil society to address four urgent priorities for this new era: sustaining trust and credibility in information flows; strengthening accountability for platforms, governments, and users alike; advancing innovative tools and strategies to counter disinformation; and forging multi-sector collaboration to build resilient information ecosystems worldwide.

Confirmed Speakers

David A. Bray, PhD, is a Distinguished Fellow and Chair of the Accelerator with the Loomis Innovation Council at the non-partisan Henry L. Stimson Center. He also is CEO and Principal at LeadDoAdapt Ventures.

Angie Drobnic Holan is Director of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN).

Shih-Hung Lo, PhD, is a professor at National Chung Cheng University and currently serves as chairperson of the Taiwan FactCheck Center.

Ellen E. McCarthy is Chairwoman and CEO of the Trust in Media Cooperative.

Suzanne Nossel is the Lester Crown Nonresident Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy & International Order at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She previously served as CEO of global free expression organization PEN America.

Gordon Pennycook, PhD, is the Dorothy & Ariz Mehta Faculty Leadership Fellow and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Cornell University.

Viktoriia Romaniuk, PhD, is the Director of the Mohyla School of Journalism at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academ, chair of the UNESCO IFAP Working Group on Information Ethics, and Deputy Chief Editor of StopFake.

Erin Saltman, PhD, is the Senior Membership & Programs Director at the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT).

James Warren is the Chicago-based executive editor of NewsGuard.

Leslie Vinjamuri, PhD, is the President and CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Emily Vraga, PhD, is the Don & Carole Larson Professor in Health Communication at the University of Minnesota.

Laura Zommer is an award-winning journalist, fact-checking pioneer, and CEO & Co-Founder of Factchequeado.

Please note that 720 University Place is not an ADA-accessible space. Increasing physical access to buildings and facilities is a goal of the University, but not all buildings and venues have been updated.