Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Abstract:
In 2017, Matthew d'Ancona published an acclaimed book on Post-Truth - prompted by the Brexit vote and Trump's victory.
In this session, he asks whether things have got any better since then, and how the all-important debate on misinformation and 'facts versus feelings' has evolved.
Topic:
European Union, Post Truth Politics, Brexit, Radical Right, and Truth
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, North America, and United States of America
For democracies to flourish and succeed, voters need accurate information on which to base their decisions; to weigh up the relative merits of proposed policy A over proposed policy B, to judge whether this candidate is more trustworthy or reliable than that one, or that these promises are more likely to be kept than those. But recent elections, most notably that of Donald Trump as US President, have highlighted the dangers to this process posed by those using social media and the internet to spread malevolent propaganda and fake news.