[Commlist] CFA: Beyond Fake News: Mitigating Epistemically Toxic Content

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*CFA: Beyond Fake News: Mitigating Epistemically Toxic Content – An 
International Online Workshop (University of Haifa/Zefat Academic College)*

In 2016, “fake news” took ‎center stage as a contributor to surprising 
political events. Reluctant to do so at first, Facebook and Twitter have 
since taken steps to fight dubious posts, and have drawn on independent 
fact ‎checkers to validate and flag stories that are reported as fake by 
users. Misinformation spreaders have not rested on their laurels either. 
They have started creating deepfakes, namely, artificial realistic faces 
and ‎videos that make ‎it appear as if people said or did something they 
didn’t, and artificial intelligence-generated images to create seemingly 
real ‎profile pictures on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to lend the 
users an air of credibility. At the same time, individuals are regularly 
posting and sharing misinformation and disinformation without any 
apparent help or encouragement from malign actors, often without 
malevolent intent. ‎

The category of “epistemically toxic content,” of content that is false, 
unsubstantiated or misleading is wider than that of fake news. Much 
epistemically toxic content is situated in the gray area between 
absolute truth and utter falsehood.Epistemically toxic content, its 
types and manifestations, the mechanisms of its spreads, and effective 
ways to fight it are still only partially ‎understood by academic 
researchers. And many suggested solutions to the problem are 
problematic. Tasking Internet mega corporations with filtering content 
for truth and falsehood may prove as a cure that is worse than the 
disease. States do not have a good track record regulating ‎free flow of 
politically inconvenient information either.

The workshop aims at advancing the study of epistemically toxic content 
online and ways to mitigate its spread, by bringing together 
philosophers and researchers in other relevant disciplines, including 
cognitive science, communications and media studies, Science and 
Technology Studies, and information systems. The workshop is part of the 
ISF funded project “Skepticism about Testimony,” and is organized by 
Arnon Keren 
<http://philo.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/faculty-staff-reception-hours/36-academic-staff/52-ak> (University 
of Haifa), Boaz Miller <https://boazmiller.com/> (Zefat Academic 
College), and Aviv Barnoy 
<https://scholar.google.co.il/citations?user=D44dirIAAAAJ> (University 
of Haifa and Zefat Academic College). Confirmed participants include:

Sacha Altay <https://sites.google.com/view/sacha-altay/home>, Institut 
Jean Nicod

Anat Ben David, 
<https://www.openu.ac.il/en/personalsites/AnatBenDavid.aspx> The Open 
University of Israel

Sarit Barzilai <https://sarit-barzilai.edu.haifa.ac.il/>, The University 
of Haifa

Karen Frost-Arnold 
<https://www.hws.edu/academics/philosophy/facultyProfile.aspx?facultyID=135>, 
Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Axel Gelfert <http://www.gelfert.net/People/Axel/axel.html>, The 
Technical University of Berlin

Thi Nguyen <https://objectionable.net/>, University of Utah

Isaac Record <http://www.isaacrecord.net/>, Michigan State University

Richard Rogers 
<https://www.uva.nl/en/profile/r/o/r.a.rogers/r.a.rogers.html>, 
University of Amsterdam

We welcome submissions by academic researchers in philosophy, cognitive 
science, communications and media studies, Science and Technology 
Studies, information systems, and related disciplines, who study 
different theoretical and empirical aspects of epistemically toxic 
content. Submissions from early-career scholars and members of 
underrepresented groups in academia are especially welcome. Please send 
abstract of about 300 words to (epistemictc /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(epistemictc /at/ gmail.com)> by March 3, 2021. Please include your 
name, email, and institutional affiliation. Accepted scholars are 
expected to give an approximately 20-minute talk followed by a Q&A 
session. Presenting scholars are requested to participate in the 
workshop throughout its duration.

Important dates:

March 3, 2021: deadline for abstract submission.

March 10, 2021: notification of acceptance.

April 21-22, 2021: online workshop. The workshop is scheduled to take 
place each day after 3pm GMT.

Please send any questions to (epistemictc /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(epistemictc /at/ gmail.com)>.

Event webpage: https://philevents.org/event/show/87330 
<https://philevents.org/event/show/87330>

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