Defending Democracy Online Through Social Media: Deep Fakes and Our Cognitive Security, with Alexa Koenig
Digital technologies are rapidly transforming how people live their lives, including their access to information. Social media and smartphones are affecting both the creation and consumption of news — trapping consumers in information "silos" that obscure alternate points of view — while deep fakes are threatening the quality of information found online. All of this raises significant risks for the functioning of our democracy. Dr. Alexa Koenig will discuss this new information environment, some of the challenges it poses for democracy — including our sense of cognitive security — and opportunities for uncovering the truth in this digital age.
About the Speaker
Dr. Alexa Koenig is faculty director of Berkeley’s MacArthur-Award Winning Human Rights Center; co-founder of U.C. Berkeley’s Investigations Lab; and a research professor at Berkeley Law, where she focuses on the role of new and emerging technologies in human rights research and investigation.
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Event Details
- Friday, October 2, 10:30–11:30 AM
- Free and open to all
- The event will be livestreamed and recorded
- The Zoom link will be included in the registration confirmation email, and in a reminder email sent before the event
- The video will be shared with registrants as soon as it's captioned — typically in about a week.