EDMO training: The economics of disinformation

Because as a society we have made the decision not to pay for most online content, we have evolved an internet that has advertising as the main means of earning revenue for content producers and technology companies. The inevitable consequence of that decision, coupled with the almost zero barriers to entry to make content on the internet, has led to the “engagement at all costs” business model we see today. Only the most highly engaging, often enraging content will rise above the masses and get sufficient attention to garner advertising. The unintended consequence of that same decision – is disinformation – a huge rise in increasingly polarising content which is threatening three of the greatest achievements of the last 300 years – democracy, science and human rights.

The way through this is not content moderation, but algorithmic moderation. GDI will share how it creates independent risk signals about online news content, that are being used by technology companies that use algorithms to put content in front of us. And how when given the choice, advertisers choose not to place their ads on the most polarising content on the internet. We can break the link enragement=engagement=advertising $.

Target Audience

The training is open to stakeholders working to tackle disinformation including journalists, policy-makers, and researchers.