We are pleased to invite you to our upcoming webinar on Information Integrity in the SWANA region: Challenges, Gaps, and Tech-Driven Responses, taking place on Thursday, February 12, at 3:00 PM Egypt time (2:00 PM CET).
Across the SWANA region, communities are increasingly confronted by information disorder, often unfolding in contexts of political instability, and conflict. These dynamics not only distort public discourse, increase tensions, but also undermine trust, and deprive people from taking informed decisions about issues that directly affect their lives, including but not limited to access to services, and personal safety, especially during conflicts.
At the same time, significant structural gaps continue to weaken effective responses. These include the widespread use of Generative AI to produce and amplify disinformation, limited access to information and media literacy from an early age, and the absence of efficient regulations governing the relationship between technology companies and users in the SWANA region. Together, these gaps leave individuals and communities increasingly exposed to information disorder and its social and political harms.
Despite these challenges, important opportunities are emerging. Organisations and advocates are pushing for long-term solutions—such as advocating for media and information literacy to be adopted as a mandatory component of university curricula and leveraging new technologies and AI-supported tools that are being developed and used to assist fact-checkers and information integrity practitioners. While these tools are not a silver bullet, they offer meaningful possibilities when grounded in ethical, contextual, and human-centred approaches.
This webinar will feature:
Mahmoud Elmasry – Witness
Osama Al-Sayyad – Arabi Facts Hub (AFH)
Mohammad Al-Hawari – Al-Fanar
Moderated by:
Mona Shtaya – Digital Action
The webinar will discuss the current landscape of information disorder in the SWANA region, examine key gaps, including AI-generated content, information and media literacy, lack of regulations in the SWANA region, and finally explore practical opportunities and tools, including AI-enabled technologies that can support fact-checking and verification work.
We at Digital Action, Witness, Arabi Facts Hub (AFH), and Al-Fanar Media invite researchers, journalists, technologists, civil society actors, educators, activists, and policymakers interested in information integrity, digital rights, and media ecosystems to join this conversation, scheduled for Thursday, February 12, at 3:00 PM Egypt time (2:00 PM CET).
We look forward to your participation and to a rich discussion on how we can collectively strengthen information integrity in the SWANA region.
