In the half-decade since the 2016 election, misinformation bots have been prominent in research agendas in law, political science, and other fields, as scholars have increasingly documented the extent to which such forces were both operational and impactful. The perceived threat, one that was closely watched in the 2020 election, was to the proper functioning of our democratic systems, both at the polls and in the tenor and quality of public discourse. In short, algorithms that created seemingly human entities had threatened much that democratic societies hold dear. But this was not the only instance of machine imposters, as deceptive technologies present in manifold forms, from misinformation bots and fake news to deepfakes and robot “performance videos”: countless technologies that function to conflate truth and falsity, mentation and computation, authenticity and falsehood, or that function not to deceive but rather to manipulate. Moreover, technologies are being developed to deceive the deceivers, and the behavioral sciences are working to understand trust and deception and the cognitions that facilitate them.

The Information Society Project hosts this conference to explore these technologies of deception and the regulatory and legal frameworks that ought to be formed to deal with them. It will feature discussion of what kinds of harms the law needs to address in the age of digital deception and how these harms can be specified and measured. It also will consider the relationship between these legal issues and broader concerns, including privacy, innovation, democracy, and free speech. Finally, the conference will consider policy recommendations, including changes in the interpretation of laws and doctrines, new legislation, and enforcement practices.

To register for this event, click here.