Contributor(s): Professor Lisa Bortolotti, Professor Quassim Cassam, Dr Cailin O’Connor | Information may be power, but misinformation appears to be usurping the throne. From COVID-19 to QAnon, misinformation is more ubiquitous and more dangerous than ever. But why is it so much more attractive to so many? Are there factors that make misinformation more (or less) likely to be believed? What draws people into the world of conspiracy theories? And if our media environment shoulders much of the blame, can democratic societies do anything to stem the flow of fake news?

Quassim Cassam, Lisa Bortolotti, and Cailin O’Connor consider the world’s misinformation problem, its causes, and some potential solutions.

Meet our speakers and chair

Lisa Bortolotti (@lisabortolotti) is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham.

Quassim Cassam (@QCassam) is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick.

Cailin O’Connor (@cailinmeister) is Associate Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Irvine.

Jonathan Birch (@BirchLSE) is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at LSE, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy and author of The Philosophy of Social Evolution.More about this event

The Forum for Philosophy (@forumphilosophy) is a non-profit organisation that hosts weekly events exploring science, politics, and the arts from a philosophical perspective.

This event forms part of LSE’s Shaping the Post-COVID World initiative, a series of debates about the direction the world could and should be taking after the crisis.