The 2019 Lunch Briefing Series is a joint venture between VOX-Pol and the European Commission Representation in Belgium, with sessions taking place on Tuesdays in October and November at the Press Club, Rue Froissart 95, 1040 Brussels.
If you are unable to attend in person, we are pleased to live-stream each session on our YouTube page. The next live-stream will be at 12:00 Brussels time on Tuesday, 8 October and will be linked-to from our Twitter account (@VOX-Pol).
Viewers are encouraged to leave comments and questions, and participate on Twitter using the hashtags #EUProtects #lunchbriefing and the handles @VOX-Pol and @EU4BE.
At the next Lunch Briefing session, on 8 October, Bharath Ganesh, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Groningen and Visiting Research Associate at the University of Oxford will speak on ‘The Radical Right, Extremism, and Disinformation in Europe and North America.’
In his seminar Dr. Ganesh will discuss how extremism and disinformation are having significant effects on liberal democracy in Europe and North America. He will argue that extremism and disinformation are deeply interdependent, and policy solutions must develop integrated approaches to countering both processes.
His three main arguments are based on research into extremism exploitation of disinformation:
- First, that the radical right is at the centre of disinformation networks in Europe and North America and it uses highly partisan, false, and deliberately misleading news to reinforce extremist ideology;
- Second, he will consider how disinformation practices increasingly resemble the cultural industries, involving creative labour, market research, digital advertising, and engagement with audiences on social media;
- Third, he argues that due to the refusal of technology companies to commit to genuine transparency in advertising and uphold standards against false information and racist advertising, extremists continue to leverage social media platforms in order to develop mainstream credibility.
By focusing on the interdependence of extremism and disinformation, the talk will explore specific vulnerabilities in liberal democracies that malicious domestic and foreign actors exploit. Finally, it will identify and develop pathways to increasing resilience to both extremism and disinformation.
Registrations are open. As places are limited, we invite you to register here as soon as possible.
Information about the other sessions in the series is available here.