TALL Lecture: Disinformation, deepfakes, memes, and riots in the context of US elections: Is public debate bad for democracy?

Date: Thursday, November 21, 2024
Time: 7 - 9 pm
Place: St. Paul's Centre (in-person event)
Price: $30 + HST  (Included: Wine & Cheese (non-alcoholic option available); second drink available for purchase). Proceeds go to future lecture series.

The rise of global populism and authoritarian leadership comes at a time when American (and other) voters are increasingly under-informed or uninformed. At the same time, this misinformed public is exceedingly vocal on social media, sowing confusion in political public debate.

Exploring the context of the 2020 and 2024 American elections, Dr. Jeppesen will consider the ways in which disinformation has provoked not just skewed debates but also intense public action. In 2020, the #stopthesteal disinformation campaign led to the Capitol riots in which participants filmed themselves committing crimes, sharing these videos and photos online, and thus incriminating themselves. In the current election campaign, we have seen deepfakes, memes, and further disintegration of public debate through disinformation, name-calling, threatening speech, and worse.

In this lecture, Dr. Jeppesen asks the provocative question of whether public debate is bad for democracy. Does free speech, as it is currently used, create the type of informed citizenry needed to support a vibrant democracy or is it, contrarily, providing avenues for attacks on democracy? Moreover, is the rise of aggressive public discourse cultivating the circumstances for the rise of authoritarianism in the US–and potentially also in Canada?

Dr. Sandra Jeppesen is a Professor in Media, Film & Communications and has been at Lakehead since 2010. She has an HBASc in Systems Design Engineering, an MA in Creative Writing, and a PhD in English focusing on alternative media. Her research focuses on alternative media, AI, algorithms, data maps, smart cities, digital technologies, and disinformation. She is a co-founding committee member of Lakehead’s Research Centre on Sustainable Communities and has held the Lakehead University Research Chair in Transformative Media and Social Movements. Her two most recent books are Transformative Media: Intersectional Technopolitics from Indymedia to #BlackLivesMatter (UBC Press 2021); and The Capitol Riots: Digital Media, Disinformation, and Democracy Under Attack (Routledge 2022).