Northwestern University

12/17/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/17/2025 13:31

Who is protecting the truth

Who is protecting the truth?

Northwestern examines the risks a 'post-moderation' era has on democratic societies

Media Information

  • Release Date: December 17, 2025

Media Contacts

Stephen J. Lewis

  • Two-day symposium convenes researchers, journalists, policymakers and fact-checkers to explore strategies needed to sustain trustworthy information online

  • Experts examine how cutbacks in platform moderation and fact-checking are reshaping vulnerabilities to propaganda and manipulation

  • Symposium takes place in Chicago and Evanston

  • Media encouraged to attend in person or online

EVANSTON, IL --- When social media platforms take a step back from moderating content and governments scale back counter-disinformation efforts, it can be difficult to discern truth from fiction. Northwestern University experts warn the world is entering a destabilizing "post-moderation" era.

To confront and analyze the risks this shift poses to democratic societies, Northwestern University's Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and the Center for Communication & Public Policy (CCPP) will host Global Disinformation in a Post-Modernation World on Thursday, Jan. 22 and Friday, Jan. 23.

The two-day symposium is open to the public, and members of the media are invited to attend. Media must RSVP to Stephen Lewis at [email protected] by noon on Wednesday, Jan. 21. Non-flash photography is permitted, but video recording is not allowed. Media may also register for the online option.

The event is organized in partnership with the Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation of America and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. It convenes leading global experts, researchers, journalists, policymakers, fact-checking leaders and national security experts to examine how shrinking institutional safeguards are reshaping the global information ecosystem.

"This transition represents not just a policy shift, but a fundamental reordering of how societies determine what information can be trusted," said Erik Nisbet, Owen L. Coon Endowed Professor in Policy Analysis & Communication and founding director of CCPP. "As platforms defund fact-checking and governments wind down counter-disinformation programs, the responsibility for navigating truth and falsehood increasingly falls on individuals and communities."

Nisbet says the goal of the symposium is to develop the strategies and cross-sector collaborations needed to sustain trustworthy and credible information globally.

"Disinformation is an urgent threat to democratic and civic life around the world," said Deborah Cohen, director of the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and Richard W. Leopold Professor of History. "The Roberta Buffett Institute is leveraging its position at the intersection of research and real-world practice to foster much-needed dialogue among industry, researchers and policymakers."

Schedule of events:

Thursday, Jan. 22, 5:15 to 6:45 p.m.
Opening Plenary
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
One Prudential Plaza
130 E. Randolph St., Suite 1650, Chicago

Friday, Jan. 23, 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Panel Discussions
Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs
720 University Place, Second Floor, Evanston

The complete list of speakers and moderators is available online.

Northwestern University published this content on December 17, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on December 17, 2025 at 19:31 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]