Communication, public policies and rights in times of 'fake news'

Seminar 1953

Chair: CLACSO
Coordination: Diego Javier De Charras and Damián Loreti (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Teaching team: Diego Javier De Charras, Damián Loreti and Luis Lozano
Home: 26 / 08 / 2019 | Registration: 04/02/2019 al 22/08/2019

Workload: 12 weeks – 90 hours.

Payment methods
If you have a link with a CLACSO Associated Center:

• Paying in one payment: USD 95 (includes issuance and shipping costs of the digital certificate).

If you have a link with a Network or Institution Associated with CLACSO:

• Paying in one payment: USD 140 (includes issuance and shipping costs of the digital certificate).

If you do NOT have a link with a CLACSO Associated Center:

• Paying in one payment BEFORE 15/08/2019: USD 150 (includes issuance and shipping costs of the digital certificate).
• Paying in one payment: USD 190 (includes issuance and shipping costs of the digital certificate).

Course presentation:

The debate surrounding the veracity of information, data manipulation, and the proliferation of rumors aimed at influencing public opinion, swaying election results, or disrupting markets predates the emergence of the internet and social media. It is a challenge inherent to the shaping of the public sphere and the role of mass media in constructing stereotypes, consensus narratives, and stigmatizing dissent in contemporary societies.

However, the exponential increase in information flows and the circulation of content mediated by social networks confronts us with the need to discern between accurate, inaccurate, true, and false (fake news) information at an unprecedented rate. In many cases, we are talking about specially crafted information, targeted at user profiles developed from the non-consensual use of personal data (interests, contacts, schedules, consumption patterns, etc.) through filters based on algorithms and artificial intelligence systems.

Since the emergence of the periodical press, reconciling editorial freedom with journalistic accuracy has been a challenge. This is even more true now that the right to communicate is exercised in digital environments that present themselves as platforms for free circulation but, in practice, act as content publishers.

Contents:

• Communication and digital environments
• Networks, platforms and media: who's who on the web
• Human rights vs. media manipulation I
• Human Rights vs. Information Manipulation II
• Economic concentration and technological convergence are behind “fake news”
• From “cookies” to biometric tools: digital power between proclaimed freedom and mass surveillance
• Who's talking on social media? Bots, trolls, and cyber troops
• Disinformation and electoral processes
• In search of informational self-determination on the internet
• The end of the dream of digital democracies

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