About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges of disinformation and features an expert's insights on combating it.

The menace is everywhere and you can hardly spot it, stop it or punish it. Synopsis: Every third Friday of the month, The Straits Times gets its US Bureau Chief to analyse the hottest political and trending talking points. Singapore recently ordered social media platforms to block access to 14 online posts that target the Indian community, such as by suggesting that Singapore was being overrun by Indians. Investigations showed that the content most likely originated from a platform based in China and was subsequently carried on other platforms and websites, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement on June 6. In this episode, US Bureau Chief Bhagyashree Garekar chats with a US-based expert who has studied disinformation, defined as organised and systematic efforts to manipulate people and to transmit false narratives. Darrell West of the Brookings Institution has carried out extensive research on how technologies such as generative AI can be used to create serious threats to personal safety, race relations and governance.  He is a senior fellow at the Center for Technology Innovation within the Governance Studies programme. He is the co-author of Lies That Kill…

People in this episode

Host: Bhagyashree Garekar

Guest: Darrell West

Topics covered

• disinformation
• social media
• politics
• technology
• safety
• race relations

Keywords

• disinformation
• misinformation
• social media
• AI
• politics
• false narratives
• safety

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Brookings Institution, Center for Technology Innovation, Governance Studies programme, The Straits Times

Places: Singapore, China

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