Sasha Havlicek's guest appearances

Sasha Havlicek

Big Tech

The Infotagion Podcast with Damian Collins MP

Beeban Kidron

David Carroll

Maria Ressa

Mark Scott

Cory Doctorow

Johann Hari

Naomi Klein

Claire Wardle

Douglas Rushkoff

David Cicilline

Shoshana Zuboff

Matt Harrison

Anand Giridharadas

Joey D

Richard Wilson

OwlTail

Edward Lucas

Is COVID-19 disinformation from Russia and China on the rise? This week Damian Collins MP is joined by writer Edward Lucas and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue’s CEO Sasha Havlicek to discuss. Iconic Labs’ John Quinlan and fake news expert Dr Charles Kriel analyse trends in Infotagion’s work this week.

Is COVID-19 disinformation from Russia and China on the rise? This week Damian Collins MP is joined by writer Edward Lucas and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue’s CEO Sasha Havlicek to discuss. Iconic Labs’ John Quinlan and fake news expert Dr Charles Kriel analyse trends in Infotagion’s work this week.

Episode 2: Edward Lucas and Sasha Havlicek

Companies, international organizations and government agencies are all working to identify and eliminate online hate speech and extremism. It’s a game of cat and mouse: as regulators develop effective tools and new policies, the extremists adapt their approaches to continue their efforts.In this episode of Big Tech, Taylor Owen speaks with Sasha Havlicek, founding CEO of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, about her organization and how it is helping to eliminate online extremism and hate speech. Several issues make Havlicek’s work difficult. The first challenge is context: regional, cultural and religious traditions play a factor in defining what is and what is not extremist content. Second, there isn’t a global norm about online extremism to reference. Third, jurisdictions present hurdles; who is responsible for deciding on norms and setting rules? And finally, keeping up with evolving technology and tactics is a never-ending battle. As online tools become more effective in identifying and removing online extremism and hate speech, extremist groups find ways to circumvent the systems. These problems are amplified by engagement-driven algorithms. While the internet enables individuals to choose how and where they consume content, platforms exploit users’ preferences to keep them engaged. “The algorithms are designed to find ways to hold your attention, … that by feeding you slightly more titillating variants of whatever it is that you're looking for, you are going to be there longer. And so that drive towards more sensationalist content is I think a real one,”  Havlicek says. These algorithms contribute to the creation of echo chambers, which are highly effective tools for converting users to extremists.

Companies, international organizations and government agencies are all working to identify and eliminate online hate speech and extremism. It’s a game of cat and mouse: as regulators develop effective tools and new policies, the extremists adapt their approaches to continue their efforts. In this episode of Big Tech, Taylor Owen speaks with Sasha Havlicek, founding CEO of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, about her organization and how it is helping to eliminate online extremism and hate speech. Several issues make Havlicek’s work difficult. The first challenge is context: regional, cultural and religious traditions play a factor in defining what is and what is not extremist content. Second, there isn’t a global norm about online extremism to reference. Third, jurisdictions present hurdles; who is responsible for deciding on norms and setting rules? And finally, keeping up with evolving technology and tactics is a never-ending battle. As online tools become more effective in identifying and removing online extremism and hate speech, extremist groups find ways to circumvent the systems. These problems are amplified by engagement-driven algorithms. While the internet enables individuals to choose how and where they consume content, platforms exploit users’ preferences to keep them engaged. “The algorithms are designed to find ways to hold your attention, … that by feeding you slightly more titillating variants of whatever it is that you're looking for, you are going to be there longer. And so that drive towards more sensationalist content is I think a real one,” Havlicek says. These algorithms contribute to the creation of echo chambers, which are highly effective tools for converting users to extremists.

Sasha Havlicek on Mitigating the Spread of Online Extremism