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In July 2022, Identrics, in collaboration with Ontotext, Sensika Technologies, and the GATE Institute, organised the inaugural “Technologies Against Disinformation” conference. The event aimed to highlight the critical role of technology in combatting the widespread issue of online disinformation.
The essence of the 2022 conference
The conference was divided into two panels—technological and practical—each led by distinguished moderators:
- Technological panel moderator: Milena Dobreva, Associate Professor at GATE Institute;
- Practical panel moderator: Mirolyuba Benatova, a prominent Bulgarian investigative journalist, reporter, and TV host.
Main challenges behind the spread of disinformation were discussed
Bozhidar Bozhanov, then Minister of e-Government, opened the conference by providing background information about the scale of disinformation spread and its consequences.
“The solution for this problem should be technological, or at least come partly from technologies”
Bozhidar Bozhanov
He briefly outlined four main problems:
- Lack of transparency;
- Inadequate moderation;
- “Troll factories”;
- The algorithm for suggesting content.
Professionals shared useful information
The technological panel featured speakers from Identrics, Ontotext, Agence France-Presse, and FactCheck.bg. They presented various solutions for handling fake news, hate speech, and trolling, addressing topics like video and image forgery, algorithmic challenges, and the pivotal role of AI.
Vasil Shivachev, then COO at Identrics, delivered an impactful presentation on leveraging advanced technology to combat disinformation:
“Technology is here to help people work better, not to substitute them”
Vasil Shivachev
He emphasized the dangers of information taken out of context as a manipulative tool and introduced one of our solutions—an online news quantifier tool developed by Identrics. Our tools clusters content, providing a comprehensive overview of emerging topic trends, and diving deep into the metrics driving them.
“Everyone has access to a vast amount of information. But this information has to be turned into knowledge, and it has to reach the right people at the right time”
Vasil Shivachev
Referring to ex-Minister Bozhanov’s opening speech, Vasil then moved on to the topic of ethical AI and how important it is. He presented the three main components:
- Regulations: Serving as tools of assistance, not censorship;
- Model explainability: Ensuring transparency in why specific products or services are suggested;
- Human in the loop (HITL): Maintaining human oversight in AI processes.
“The essence of what we, at Identrics, do is to make sense of the content we process.”
Vasil Shivachev
More about the 2022 conference
Panellists from the practical session shared insights about the disinformation deluge, explained what fact-checking is, discussed what machines can and cannot do, and outlined how people can benefit from it.
The conference united tech professionals and data scientists with the intention of raising awareness about the circulation of fake information in the media. The experts shared experiences, thoughtful opinions, and interesting solutions to the problem.
Continuing the journey in 2024
Building on the success of the 2022 conference, we recognise that overcoming disinformation requires more than technology alone—it needs a collaborative effort across various sectors. This realisation has led to the evolution of our initiative into the Sofia Information Integrity Forum 2024 (SIIF 2024).
We have prepared a one-of-a-kind three-day program featuring presentations and lectures by Bulgarian and international experts on all aspects of information integrity.
If you would like to join the discussion or learn more about technologies that will help you fight disinformation in your industry, feel free to contact us.
