14 November, 14:30 – 15:30 CET

Countering disinformation requires for public authority to evolve in their missions, especially in educating key audiences on how disinformation spreads. In 2022, the State Chancellery of Latvia edited a hand-book for local public authorities on how to recognize and counter disinformation. As a follow-up in 2023, an online platform with articles exposing disinformation, practical tutorials and a podcast on YouTube with regular guests were launched with an aim to build societal resilience. Dr Rihards Bambals, from the State Chancellery in Latvia, discusses this strategy and its successes.

Watch the replay here:

Speaker:

Rihards Bambals, Director of Strategic Communication – State Chancellery of Latvia

Dr. Rihards Bambals is Director of Strategic Communication at the State Chancellery of Latvia (Government Office). He is responsible for coordinating Latvia’s communication with target audiences, based on a whole-of-government approach, and he coordinates efforts across different formats between governmental and non-governmental stake-holders to protect the information integrity and to bolster psychological defences against information influence operations. R.Bambals has developed Latvia’s first doctrine on strategic communication and security of the information space (2023-2027), he is an editor and author of Latvia’s first handbook on how to recognize and counter disinformation (2022), and his department has created a platform for citizens to report potential disinformation (www.melnsuzbalta.lv) – one of the first in the world. Rihards has a doctoral degree in political sciences from University of Latvia (2019).

Moderator:

Alexandre Alaphilippe, EU DisinfoLab

Alexandre Alaphilippe is the Executive Director and co-founder of the EU DisinfoLab. Since 2017, he has coordinated work on some of the organisation’s largest investigations into Information Operations linked to Russia, India and China. In 2022, he led the exposure of Doppelganger, which has been labeled as one of the largest information operation from Russia in the past years. He is a member of a number of working groups in Brussels and Washington DC linked to platform regulation, transatlantic relations, and hybrid threats, where he emphasises the role of civil society in maintaining democratic values. He has published papers for the Brookings Institution and his work has been featured on CNN, BBC, Le Monde and Politico. 

This webinar is organised with the support of the German Embassy in Latvia.

The opinions expressed are those of the speakers/authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of EU DisinfoLab. This webinar does not represent an endorsement by EU DisinfoLab of any organisation.