#DisinfoWeek will bring together leaders from the tech sector, policy community, academia, media, and government for a week-long series of bi-coastal events at Stanford University and at the Atlantic Council headquarters in Washington, DC. Strategic panel discussions and keynote addresses will highlight the challenge posed by disinformation and the role of the private sector, governments, and civil society in actively combating disinformation campaigns designed to undermine democratic institutions and discredit the democratic model.

The series of events will run from June 26-30. Partners in #DisinfoWeek include the Atlantic Council; Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung; the National Democratic Institute (NDI); Stanford University’s Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law; the McCain Institute for International Leadership; Jigsaw; Oxford University’s Internet Institute; and First Draft News.

On June 26, #DisinfoWeek will kick off with two days of off-the-record conversations hosted by Stanford, NDI, and other partners to facilitate communication between the tech sector and policy communities in Palo Alto, California.

Events will continue in Washington, DC at the Atlantic Council where prominent experts from the tech industry, media, and academia will be joined by US and European policymakers in a full day conference on June 29. Former Secretary of State and current Chairman of the National Democratic Institute Madeleine K. Albright will provide the keynote address.

Panels throughout the day will focus on topics including: the role of Russian influence in disseminating false information to influence European elections; resources, products, and strategies for combatting disinformation; the role of misinformation in Ukraine and lessons learned from Russia’s history of utilizing propaganda to undermine stability in democratic states; digital disinformation in the Nordic and Baltic States; and the future of political warfare. Featured speakers include: Senator Chris Murphy, US Senator for Connecticut, David McAllister, head of the Foreign Relations Committee of the European Parliament, Congressman Will Hurd (TX-3), Susan Glasser from POLITICO, and Reporter for CNN Investigations Simon Ostrovsky. To view the full agenda, please click here.

The two conferences will be preceded by a series of briefings hosted by Oxford Internet Institute, NDI, and Stanford. The briefings will take place in London on June 19; Washington, DC on June 20; and Palo Alto, California, on June 21. To learn more about these briefings, please click here.

“This week-long forum on digital disinformation puts the spotlight on the growing threat that disinformation poses to democracy,” said Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe. “The week of events will allow leaders across private industries, non-profit organizations, media, and government to create long lasting, comprehensive solutions to strengthen the integrity of information and combat the influence of those who attempt to destabilize the liberal world order.”  

“Fact based and rational discourse is essential for western democracies, and while we would have benefited from a transatlantic discussion on defense and deterrence of Russian disinformation earlier, it is good that we are having such a high-level conversation now,” said the Washington Head of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Nico Lange.

“While the Internet has made a publisher of everyone with a mobile phone, it is not an inherently democratic medium,” said NDI President Kenneth Wollack. “Anti-democratic forces have increasingly weaponized the freedom of the Net to corrupt the marketplace of ideas and sow disinformation. #DisinfoWeek is an opportunity to bring together partners from Washington, Silicon Valley, and around the globe to collaborate around responses to this serious problem.”

#DisinfoWeek is comprised of off-the-record discussions between experts, as well as on-the-record events which are open for press coverage. To register for the conference to be held at the Atlantic Council June 29 please click here. Webcasts of that event will be available here. For questions or for more information about #DisinfoWeek, please visit disinfoweek.org or email press@atlanticcouncil.org.