Calling out fake news as key to the fight against disinformation

UPF Barcelona School of Management-Pompeu Fabra University's auditorium was the venue for the presentation of a report by Platform Xnet entitled #Fakeyou: Fake news and disinformation: monopolies of online manipulation and attacks on freedom of expression, undertaken with the aim of updating and expanding on the spheres of action for protocols calling out fake news. Part of the UPF Barcelona School of Management's Postgraduate Course in Technopolitics and Rights in the Digital Era, the report criticizes the "standard" imposed in Europe. "We need to take effective action against fake news, without however attacking freedom of expression", co-founder of Xnet Simona Levi declared. Levi is banking on Catalonia to become a "pioneering example" in solving the problem of disinformation and is fighting for the report's recommendations on legislation to be adopted by the Generalitat de Catalunya and rolled out across Europe.

Backing has been provided from the Generalitat de Catalunya's Office of Civil and Political Rights (ODCP) in order to support Xnet and UPF Barcelona School of Management's ongoing research. The postgraduate program will continue to develop policy proposals tackling disinformation and rights abuses sometimes suggested as a solution to the phenomenon, with the research initiated with the #Fakeyou report therefore continuing to receive the ODCP's logistic support. The collaboration will also pave the way for the opening up of spaces for debate and the reviewing of proposals open to all citizens.