The trolls who cried wolf

Tonight, we try to answer one question: To what extent has our pop culture, as well as our understanding of our society, been shaped by online lies? Poet Maxime Garcia Diaz reacts through poetry and Hannah Richter, campaign manager for Dare To Be Grey, kicks off the event with an immersive key note on conspiracy theories and how they’re affecting us.

Author Ellen McVeigh takes us on a journey to Bodegraven, a Dutch town which became the unlikely centre of a satanic conspiracy theory—and suddenly received hundreds of flowers to commemorate the (non-existing) victims of a global child trafficking network. Bellingcat researcher Aiganysh Aidarbekova will share her experience investigating conspiracies across Europe, and training hundreds of journalists in truth-seeking. Sarra Riahi, from the European Network On Religion and Belief, has discovered tropes that keep appearing both on- and offline, from antisemitism to anti-vax conspiracy theories.

The evening will be held in partnership with Are We Europe, Dare to be Grey and Get The Trolls Out. The panel will be moderated by Anneleen Ophoff, editor-in-chief of Are We Europe. The pan-European magazine recently invited young storytellers to explore the real, intimate stories of people across the continent whose lives have profoundly changed due to online disinformation.