Defending our democratic values
Disinformation is one of the biggest global threats of our time. When weaponised by foreign actors, disinformation, information manipulation and interference can challenge democratic processes, threaten state security, weaken social cohesion, and pose a serious risk to public health.
Both the EU and the UK recognise the severity of this threat to their shared democratic values of freedom, equality, and respect for human rights, and both are pursuing new policies to tackle online harms and information abuse.
Join the EU Delegation to the UK for a discussion on the need for closer cooperation among like-minded partners to tackle the disinformation emergency. Our panel of experts will explore the latest developments in understanding and countering threats, discuss new approaches in the UK and the EU, and the potential for greater EU-UK collaboration.
Moderated by:
Michael Peel – Executive Editor of Nikkei Asia, on secondment from the Financial Times. Michael has been an FT journalist for almost 25 years, including postings in Lagos, Abu Dhabi, Bangkok and Brussels. He has a longstanding interest in the use of disinformation and misleading narratives, which were the subject of his second book The Fabulists: How Myth-makers Rule in an Age of Crisis. He is also the author of A Swamp Full of Dollars: Pipelines and Paramilitaries at Nigeria’s Oil Frontier, which was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.
On the panel:
Darren Boyling – Head of Strategic Communications, Russia Unit, Eastern Europe & Central Asia Directorate, The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO). Darren leads the unit’s Counter Disinformation and Media Development programme which supports independent media, CSOs and partner governments across Europe. His team also provides strategic communication capability to the FCDO on Russia related issues. Over the past 20 years he has worked on various international development and national security issues including whilst posted in Ethiopia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia. He holds an MA in Public Policy and Management.
Chloe Colliver – Head of Digital Policy and Strategy, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). Chloe Colliver is Head of Digital Policy and Strategy at ISD, where she leads a global team of analysts studying disinformation and extremism online, including programmes focusing on the German, European Parliamentary, UK, and US Elections. She has worked on the development of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism and has provided expert testimony to the UK Home Affairs Select Committee, and the New Zealand, Canadian, French and German governments on digital policy. She has been featured on CNN, the BBC, the New York Times, Wired and Bloomberg and is the co-author of multiple ISD reports. Chloe is a Yale Mellon Fellow and sits on the Advisory Board for Accountable Tech.
Lutz Güllner – Head of Division for Strategic Communications and information analysis in the European External Action Service (EEAS). He leads a team dealing with issues related to disinformation and foreign manipulative interference. His work focuses on addressing disinformation threats for the EU and its neighbourhood region. In 2009 and 2010, Lutz was spokesperson for the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Baroness Catherine Ashton. He was also the Commission’s spokesperson for trade policy. In previous positions, he oversaw economic relations between the EU and Russia.
Dr Phil Howard – Director, Programme on Democracy and Technology, the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). He researches the use of new information technologies in politics for raising civic engagement and improving public globally. Phil has led the study of misinformation around the world and has advised governments, the tech industry, and key civil society groups on the best responses to election interference, fake news, and misinformation. He was recently named a “Global Thinker” by Foreign Policy and received the National Democratic Institute’s “Democracy Prize” for pioneering the social science of fake news. In 2020, Phil published Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives on the upsurge of highly organized campaigns to manipulate voters.