The International Fact-Checking Network will premiere its new monthly conversation series, IFCN Talks, on Monday, Feb. 8. The monthly series of community conversations will allow members of both the public and the fact-checking community to learn and talk about some of the most prescient topics in the fight against mis- and disinformation. It’s part of a larger effort by the IFCN to expand learning opportunities for fact-checkers, while also including the public in discussions previously sequestered in fact-checker-only events.
The monthly sessions will feature interviews with experts followed by a 30-minute question and answer session for the viewing audience. Monday’s first session will look at the recent spate of social media deplatformings. IFCN Associate Director Cristina Tardáguila will talk to misinformation researchers Lucas Graves and Francisco Brito Cruz about whether deplatforming has been a useful tactic in the fight against online falsehoods.
Graves is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been at the forefront of research on the global fact-checking movement for years. Brito Cruz is the director at InternetLab, in Brazil, and has a Ph.D. in Sociology of Law at the University of São Paulo.
IFCN Talks builds on the success of 2020’s virtual Global Fact 7 conference. The virtual format, necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, allowed the IFCN to expand its annual conference from three days to five, and also brought together nearly three times as many speakers as the previous year’s conference –– 150 vs. 57.
Global Fact 7 was the first time members of the public were able to participate in the annual fact-checking conference. Viewers across the globe were treated to free workshops and discussions about such topics as how to fight health misinformation, new formats for disseminating fact-checks, and new research about the impacts of fact-checking and misinformation.
IFCN Talks is a direct result of that success.
To participate in Monday’s session, click this link and sign up for the seminar on Zoom. It’s free and it will surely be fun.
