The integrity of the information environment is increasingly consequential to how societies construct knowledge, form political judgments, and sustain public trust. Yet this environment is becoming more vulnerable to systematic manipulation. Misinformation and disinformation, spread rapidly by State and/or non-State actors, alongside generative AI, deepfakes, coordinated influence operations, and organised campaigns of deception, are complicating the distinction between credible information and manufactured narratives.

These developments carry implications well beyond the digital sphere. The manipulation of information can undermine institutional legitimacy, deepen social polarisation, influence political processes, and increasingly serve as an instrument of geopolitical competition and foreign interference. The central challenge is therefore not simply the abundance of information, but the ability of societies to preserve the quality, credibility, and integrity of the information on which public decision-making depends.

This session will discuss the changing politics of information and its implications for democratic societies and international affairs. It will consider how governments, media, technology companies, and citizens can strengthen resilience against information manipulation while preserving an open information environment—and how societies can safeguard the capacity to distinguish evidence from influence, and truth from deception.