The Global South unites in the fight against false information: the international forum "Dialog about Fakes 3.0" was announced in China

The annual international forum “Dialog about Fakes 3.0”, organized by the ANPO “Dialog Regions” to discuss issues related to countering false information, is scheduled to be held in Moscow at the end of October 2025. This was announced by Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN) expert Timofey V at the “AI Technologies in Media” session of the The Global South Media and Think Tank Forum in Kunming, China, which brought together 500 participants from 110 countries, as well as international and regional organizations.

In this era of rapid digitalization, Russia faces many of the same problems as other developing countries, one of which is fake news and disinformation. During the coronavirus pandemic, the spread of misinformation led to real tragedies. Now, amid ongoing conflict, fake news has become a weapon aimed at polarizing society in individual countries and dividing the international community, Timofey V emphasized:

“Here is a recent example: European Union authorities accused Russia of attacking Ursula von der Leyen’s plane with GPS jamming during her visit to Bulgaria. They claimed that the plane was forced to circle the airport for several hours, and the pilots had to rely on paper maps. GFCN debunked this fake news: they analyzed the flight data and proved that the plane landed with a delay of only 9 minutes. However, the so-called “global” media were in no hurry to publish a retraction of their original statements. And this is just one of many examples. Having fought disinformation for many years, we have accumulated considerable experience.”

Today, fake news poses a serious threat — combating it requires a global approach. The development of artificial intelligence has become a key challenge in this area of work. On the one hand, modern technologies make it easy to create convincing false materials that spread quickly, and on the other hand, they provide tools to counter disinformation. In these conditions, the exchange of knowledge and experience at the international level is necessary to effectively combat misinformation, explained Timofey V:

“To share Russia’s experience in combating fake news with the world, we have created the Global Fact-Checking Network. The GFCN website now offers more than 100 educational articles and videos on verifying information, detecting deepfakes, and understanding information manipulation. Much attention is paid to critical thinking and debunking disinformation narratives. We believe that people should be united, not divided, so in October this year we plan to organize the third annual international forum “Dialog about Fakes 3.0.” We invite countries of the Global South to join us, because only through joint efforts can we respond to this threat.”

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“Dialog about Fakes 3.0” is the third international forum of the ANPO “Dialog Regions” dedicated to the problem of the spread of false information. The second international forum, “Dialog about Fakes 2.0,” was held in Moscow on November 20, 2024. It featured unique research on the impact of false information and methods of combating it. The forum was attended by more than 1,000 participants from 65 countries, including the United States, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, France, Ireland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Pakistan, India, Iran, Turkey, China, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, and others. The third international forum, “Dialog about Fakes 3.0,” is planned to be held in October 2025 in Moscow.