Fake news and disinformation in Europe, November 2018

At this event we welcomed around 50 students, academics and members of the local community to discuss the phenomenon of fake news and disinformation – how are we affected by the proliferation of misleading news stories and sources in the age of social media?

After an introduction by Frederico Rocha, Manager of the Cardiff EDC, our full-time interns Yudan Zhang and Emma Consenheim gave short presentations illustrating two incidents where fake news has played a part.

Yudan talked about the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 which was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Emma spoke about the controversy surrounding the Hungarian-born investor and philanthropist George Soros.

Our guest speaker, Dr Galina Miazhevich from the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University, gave us an interesting insight into how the concept of disinformation is perceived in the post-Soviet world.

The audience then participated in a question and answer session before enjoying a buffet.

Photographs taken at the event can be seen on our Facebook page.

We would like to thank the European Commission’s Office in Wales for supporting the event.