Session
Organizer 1: Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Organizer 2: Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Organizer 3: Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Organizer 2: Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Organizer 3: Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 1: Helani Galpaya, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 2: Sonia Livingstone, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Heloisa Maria Machado Massaro, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 4: Alison Gillwald, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 5: Isuru Samaratunga, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 6: Arwa Kooli, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 2: Sonia Livingstone, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Heloisa Maria Machado Massaro, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 4: Alison Gillwald, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 5: Isuru Samaratunga, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 6: Arwa Kooli, Civil Society, African Group
Format
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: A roundtable workshop is ideal for this session as it fosters interactive dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and collaborative problem-solving—essential for tackling misinformation. This format ensures equal participation, allowing diverse stakeholders from civil society, government, and the private sector to share insights and strategies. Unlike traditional panels, roundtable discussions encourage flexible, open-ended conversations, enabling participants to exchange experiences, debate challenges, and co-develop solutions. This approach enhances engagement by promoting peer-to-peer learning, where fact-checkers, researchers, and policymakers can directly interact and refine strategies. The format also supports real-world problem-solving by focusing on specific case studies and methodological challenges in combating misinformation. It provides a collaborative space to reflect on successful and failed interventions, fostering cross-sector partnerships. Overall, a roundtable ensures inclusive, action-oriented discussions, allowing participants to explore new approaches, strengthen networks, and enhance digital resilience in a rapidly evolving information landscape.
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: A roundtable workshop is ideal for this session as it fosters interactive dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and collaborative problem-solving—essential for tackling misinformation. This format ensures equal participation, allowing diverse stakeholders from civil society, government, and the private sector to share insights and strategies. Unlike traditional panels, roundtable discussions encourage flexible, open-ended conversations, enabling participants to exchange experiences, debate challenges, and co-develop solutions. This approach enhances engagement by promoting peer-to-peer learning, where fact-checkers, researchers, and policymakers can directly interact and refine strategies. The format also supports real-world problem-solving by focusing on specific case studies and methodological challenges in combating misinformation. It provides a collaborative space to reflect on successful and failed interventions, fostering cross-sector partnerships. Overall, a roundtable ensures inclusive, action-oriented discussions, allowing participants to explore new approaches, strengthen networks, and enhance digital resilience in a rapidly evolving information landscape.
Policy Question(s)
1. How can governments and policymakers support and scale civil society-led media literacy and fact-checking initiatives to enhance digital resilience while safeguarding freedom of expression?
2. What policy frameworks and regulatory measures are needed to strengthen collaboration between civil society, technology platforms, and governments in combating misinformation, particularly in the Global South?
3. How can funding and institutional support for civil society interventions be improved to address challenges such as outreach limitations, scalability, and the evolving nature of misinformation, including deepfakes?
What will participants gain from attending this session? Participants will gain practical insights, research-based knowledge, and collaborative opportunities to enhance their efforts in countering misinformation. Through discussions with experts from civil society, government, and the private sector, they will explore the effectiveness, challenges, and scalability of different interventions, including media literacy programs, fact-checking initiatives, and digital tools for misinformation detection.
By engaging in interactive dialogue and peer-to-peer learning, participants will exchange experiences, reflect on successful and failed interventions, and identify gaps in current approaches. The session will also provide valuable case studies and highlight methodological challenges in misinformation research, particularly regarding adolescents and digital resilience.
Moreover, participants will leave with a stronger network of like-minded professionals, potential collaborations across regions and sectors, and actionable takeaways to improve their own programs. This session ultimately equips attendees with strategies and tools to strengthen civil society’s role in combating misinformation and building digital resilience.
Description:
The civil society approach has the potential to build digital resilience through media literacy, fact-checking initiatives, and policy advocacy. However, while civil society efforts emphasize a bottom-up approach, their effectiveness is challenged by several factors, such as scalability, outreach limitations, restricted influence over social media platforms, and the evolving nature of misinformation, including deepfakes. This roundtable brings together stakeholders from the Global South (Africa, Asia, and the Middle East) and multiple sectors (civil society, government, academic and the private sector). Participants will initiate discussions on the extent to which the civil society approach to countering misinformation is contributing to building digitally resilient citizens. The discussion will explore five specific civil society interventions (media literacy programs, digital games designed to combat misinformation, exposure to fact checks) targeting adults and adolescents. All interventions have been tested and evaluated, and therefore the impact is quantified. The discussion will therefore be seeded and then broaden out form there to understand how individual characteristics of social media users impact their ability to identify misleading information. Additionally, they will present both research and personal experiences as fact-checkers, discussing methodological challenges in researching information disorder, studies on adolescence, and the potential for collaborative efforts in countering misinformation. The discussion will then open up to invite roundtable participants to share specific examples of what has worked—and what has not—when countering information disorder through civil society approaches. This interactive session will also provide an opportunity for participants to pose questions to one another, fostering a collaborative exchange of insights and experiences.
The civil society approach has the potential to build digital resilience through media literacy, fact-checking initiatives, and policy advocacy. However, while civil society efforts emphasize a bottom-up approach, their effectiveness is challenged by several factors, such as scalability, outreach limitations, restricted influence over social media platforms, and the evolving nature of misinformation, including deepfakes. This roundtable brings together stakeholders from the Global South (Africa, Asia, and the Middle East) and multiple sectors (civil society, government, academic and the private sector). Participants will initiate discussions on the extent to which the civil society approach to countering misinformation is contributing to building digitally resilient citizens. The discussion will explore five specific civil society interventions (media literacy programs, digital games designed to combat misinformation, exposure to fact checks) targeting adults and adolescents. All interventions have been tested and evaluated, and therefore the impact is quantified. The discussion will therefore be seeded and then broaden out form there to understand how individual characteristics of social media users impact their ability to identify misleading information. Additionally, they will present both research and personal experiences as fact-checkers, discussing methodological challenges in researching information disorder, studies on adolescence, and the potential for collaborative efforts in countering misinformation. The discussion will then open up to invite roundtable participants to share specific examples of what has worked—and what has not—when countering information disorder through civil society approaches. This interactive session will also provide an opportunity for participants to pose questions to one another, fostering a collaborative exchange of insights and experiences.
Expected Outcomes
A policy brief summarizing the key findings of the session will be circulated to key actors as part of an ongoing dissemination campaign aimed at increasing digital resilience.
Feedback from the workshop learnings will be shared with the research team currently studying human factors in information disorder and measures to counter it.
Session learnings will also inform engagement with actors in the information ecosystem, including media literacy trainers, governments, and tech companies, in developing a roadmap to counter misinformation.
Hybrid Format: To facilitate interaction;
The initial round of interventions by invited speakers is limited to 30 minutes, leaving 50% of the session (30 mins) audience participation
Audience participation will alternate between online vs on-site audience speakers, giving equal billing to those who are participating remotely.
The dedicated online moderator will manage the virtual platform and monitor chat rooms, and relay questions and comments that are provided in chat format instead of voice
The session starts with quick survey (using Mentimeter) asking the audience the following (or similar) question: “In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge for civil society in combating misinformation: a) limited reach and scalability; b) lack of funding and resources; c) limited influence over social media platforms; d) Rapid evolution of misinformation; e) political and intuitional resistance