For years a new cultural and information war has been raging online. With the rise of fake news and disinformation campaigns, alternative news universes have been created that help advance specific political goals and lend credence to conspiracy narratives. Just how quickly “alternative facts” spread is demonstrated by the remarkable speed with which in the first days of the Corona pandemic outlandish accounts of the virus’ origins and potential treatments were able to make the rounds. The boundaries between the German “Querdenker” movement, conspiracy theories and antidemocratic ideologies are becoming ever more blurred. The Utopian vision of an enlightened, democratic internet that promotes freedom and contributes to global understanding and equality seems to have degenerated into the very opposite. To what extent do social media serve as catalysts for verbal radicalisation and to legitimise violence? Which forms of protest and counter movements can offer an effective resistance to such trends? Is the digital world more suitable as a weapon for reactionaries or as an educational and informational tool?

This session brings together Katharina Nocun – civil rights activist, journalist and co-author of Fake Facts. Wie Verschwörungstheorien unser Denken bestimmen – and Carolin Wiedemann – journalist and sociologist with a special focus on gender relations, politics of migration and digital capitalism – to talk about the new battlegrounds on which the conflicts between information and knowledge transfer, spin, manipulation and freedom of speech are being waged. The conversation will be moderated by Katharina Meyer, a science and technology historian from Berlin.

Carolin Wiedemann could not participate in the conversation as planned.