Global Voices’ Managing Editor Filip Noubel participated in Asia Centre’s Digital Rights Programme for Civil Society Organisations event which took place at National Taiwan University’s Office of International Affairs on April 16th 2024. He was joined by around 50 individuals from CSOs, diplomatic missions, media, think tanks, and universities, Asia Centre reports. They further describe that the event's objective was “to discuss concerns related to disinformation—the biggest digital threat facing the country”. Noubel spoke not only about Global Voices but also the Community Civic Media Observatory (CMO). The CMO is a research branch of Global Voices and has worked since 2019 to investigate how narratives are constructed in our media ecosystems. In light of the event, Noubel also talked to Domino Theory via e-mail and expained the work of the CMO and its purpose which can be read about here.

Asia Center, in their article about the event, says Noubel “stressed the complexity and dynamics of disinformation. He mentioned the power of the narrative in shaping public perception, distrust, and polarisation. Noubel underlined the importance of narrative analysis in combating disinformation which he opined was more effective compared to fact-checking.” Additionally, there's a need for an increased media literacy education for the Taiwanese public, Noubel states.

Impressions of the meeting are gathered in the following video shared on Asia Centre's TikTok channel:

@asiacentreCatch the highlight of Asia Centre's first country meeting of the Digital Rights Programme for Civil Society Organisations that took place on 16 April 2024 in Taipei, Taiwan, hosted by the Office of International Affairs, National Taiwan University (NTU-OIA), with support from @Google Asia-Pacific. #digitalrights #Taiwan #Asia #CSOs #fyp♬ original sound – Asia Centre – Asia Centre