18:30 -20:00 — Auditorium — 127 pax
Media, Technology and Democracy
The digital scene is no exception to the strong concentration observed in the media landscape. Once a space of diverse opinions, the internet is now deeply influenced by Tech Giants, who, through major acquisitions, wield considerable power over key platforms of democratic discourse (for example, Twitter, which has become X). Technology has become an instrument of power and sovereignty, creating a new dimension in international relations. Technological races, particularly between China and the United States, shape the contours of this new hegemony, where the possession and control of technological advancements equate to power. This is now known as the 'splinternet': a concept that considers the global internet, once seen as a utopia for democracy at its inception, is giving rise to the formation of distinct ideological blocs guided by specific political and ideological interests. These blocs are recreated online thanks to algorithms which limit the free diffusion of information. By creating information bubbles based on a little research, the audience - and in consequence media and journalists - finds itself locked into a spiral of similar news - or fake news. How can we keep online democratic discourse free from ideological interests? What is cyber-skepticism? How does the action of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) unfold in support of the media and safeguard democracy? What consequences will the development of Artificial Intelligence have in this debate?
With:
— Asma Mhalla (Geopolitics of tech specialist I FR)
Asma Mhalla has a doctorate in political science and is a political scientist specialising in the political and geopolitical issues surrounding technology and AI. She is a researcher at the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Politique at EHESS and teaches at Sciences Po, Polytechnique and Columbia GC. In February 2024 she published her first essay, "Technopolitique", with Editions du Seuil.
— Evgeny Morozov (Cyber-activist I BY)
Evgeny Morozov is a writer with a strong interest in the history and politics of technology. The author of award-winning books such as The Net Delusion and To Save Everything, Click Here (both listed as notable books of the year by the New York Times), Morozov holds a PhD in History of Science from Harvard. He’s also the founder of The Syllabus, the non-profit knowledge curation initiative. His writings have appeared in a variety of publications, including The New Yorker, London Review of Books, The New York Times, The Guardian. Between 2019 and 2021, he was part of UNESCO's high-ranking International Commission on the Futures of Education.
— Andrei Petre (The Circle I RO)
Andrei Petre is a freelance journalist and OSINT investigator based in Romania. He has worked on cross-border investigations with journalists from The Guardian, Politico, Lighthouse Reports, Deutsche Welle, South China Morning Post, OCCRP, Balkan Insight and Libertatea on stories about migration and workers rights, protests and social unrest, disinformation, corruption, and environmental issues.
Moderation: Amaelle Guiton (Libération I FR)
Amaelle Guiton is a journalist at Libération, where she covers the major political and geopolitical issues of the digital age, from data protection and privacy to the online "information war". Formerly at Le Mouv', where she hosted the morning show from 2011 to 2013, she has also written for Slate.fr and appeared as a columnist on L'Instant M on France Inter. In 2013, she published "Hackers, au coeur de la résistance numérique" (Hackers, at the heart of digital resistance), published by Au Diable Vauvert.
Co-curated with Europod (link), which recently launched the French version of the podcast "Les Santiago Boys" (lien)
