This podcast delves into the current trends in the world of online influencers in and around the War on Ukraine. Who is getting it right and who is categorically not. Do governments have the right or a duty to steer their content production given the huge columns of disinformation and propaganda being generated by Kremlin bot farms and content production apparatus. The War on Ukraine is still raging as we record this podcast, and it is being mirrored online. There is an unprecedented amount of content being produced, mis and disinformation is flourishing, not to mention propaganda and deep fakes. How do we know who to trust and can we count influencers among those we can? Dare to be Grey’s Hannah Richter and Textgain’s Lydia El-Khouri joined influencer Nathalie Van Raemdonck to find out more about the world of influencers and their role in the war.

We were joined by Xavier Brandao, the co-founder of the #jesuislà collective, which counters online hate and disinformation. This podcast delves into the current trends we are seeing online in France, identifying particular hateful narratives. We discuss the impact of the war in Ukraine and foreign influence, especially that of Russia. We hear how the volunteers of I Am Here International are debunking disinformation, and finally, we end on a positive note, where Xavier explains how he would try to encourage the silent majority to speak out.

This second episode is focussed on the war in Ukraine. We’ll meet with Rafal Pankowski, the co-founder of the Never Again Association, to discuss the impact the war is having on Poland, and Emily Duffy, campaigner and trainer, to talk about reframing narratives surrounding the war in Ukraine.

We spoke with Elsa Court, whose research focuses on the political and sociological transformation of post-2014 Ukraine, to shed some light on the history between Ukraine and Russia, and the divisions between the two countries.

In this first episode we met with Miro Dittrich, the co-founder of the organisation CeMAS, to chat about QAnon in Germany, and Guy De Pauw, CEO of Textgain, on ethical AI as a solution to online hate.