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12/06/2023 - 12/06/2023 | Berlin

Weaponising Fake News Laws: Autocratic Use of Disinformation Laws Against Civil Society in Asia

The GIGA Talk is our platform to give policymakers and economic actors insight into current research findings and recommendations for further action. Herein, we exchange views on global trends and current developments in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

This talk presents the latest findings from our research on governments’ use of fake news laws as a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) tactic. This trend has accompanied autocratisation in places such as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Thailand. In these countries, governments have ridden the global wave of countering disinformation, exploiting existing information laws or passing new ones to censor and criminalise civil society while seeking to control the flow of information digitally. Together with other draconian laws and tools of digital repression such as surveillance and online smear campaigns, fake news laws increase the costs of public participation that could help keep the executive in check. Facing multiple charges, dissidents and journalists are compelled to fight endless court cases, depleting their energy and limited financial resources as well as being a time sink, further to enduring the detrimental psychological effects of this misuse of legal powers. This talk unpacks these mechanisms and proposes counter-responses to weaponising fake news laws.

Speakers:

Dr. Sangeeta Mahapatra is a Research Fellow at the GIGA.

Dr. Janjira Sombatpoonsiri is a Research Fellow at the GIGA.

Dr. Andreas Ufen is a Senior Research Fellow at the GIGA.

Discussants:

Cathleen Berger is Team Lead for Upgrade Democracy and Research Director on future technologies and sustainabilty at the Bertelsmann Foundation.

Ruth Streicher is Senior Programme Officer Asia Division at the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Moderator:

Dr. Thomas Richter is a Lead Research Fellow and Head of the Research Programme “Accountability and Participation” at the GIGA.

Information on participating / attending:
The participation is free of charge.

Date:

12/06/2023 16:00 - 12/06/2023 17:30

Registration deadline:

12/06/2023

Event venue:

GIGA Berlin Büro, Friedrichstraße 206, and online
10969 Berlin
Berlin
Germany

Target group:

Scientists and scholars, all interested persons

Email address:

Relevance:

international

Subject areas:

Politics

Types of events:

Seminar / workshop / discussion

Entry:

11/22/2023

Sender/author:

Verena Schweiger

Department:

Fachabteilung Kommunikation

Event is free:

yes

Language of the text:

English

URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event75767


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