During this webinar, Tristan Mendès France presented RiPOST – a recent project launched by Conspiracy Watch with the support of the CIPDR (French Interdepartmental Crime Prevention Committee) and the ISD (Institute for Strategic Dialogue). Its purpose is to counter false information and hate speech by using social media and search engines.
On Twitter, RiPOST replies to tweets containing false information with accurate, reliable information, with the aim of better informing Twitter users about a certain topic.
For the search engines part, RiPOST has partnerships with Google and Bing, with the aim of debunking false information or countering harmful stereotypes by targeting users with advertisements. In this context, when a user conducts a search containing hate speech keywords or conspiracy theories, such as the “The Great Replacement,” users retrieve RiPOST online advertisements that either offers users related content from Conspiracy Watch (on Google) or related fact-checked content (on Bing). This is designed to empower online users to have an informed opinion about a certain topic.
Webinar Recording
About the speaker
Tristan Mendès France is an Associate Lecturer in digital cultures at the University of Paris. He is also the Project Manager for the Stop Hate Money initiative, which aims to demonetise online hate speech actors. In addition to this, he also collaborates on the Conspiracy Watch project — an initiative that monitors and documents contemporary conspiracy theories.
