Disinformation and democracy

Disinformation and democracy

Thursday 26th February 2026

6-7pm

RSA House and online via YouTube

Around the world, democracies are being outpaced by a rapidly evolving information crisis. AI-generated deepfakes, automated propaganda, and weaponised synthetic media are now flooding public discourse faster than institutions can respond. What the world is witnessing is a runaway surge of falsehoods, which is turbo-charging a deeper collapse in our democratic capacity to verify what’s real, deliberate together, and hold power to account.

At this pivotal moment, Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, is bringing forward a new framework for understanding and repairing the deeper democratic fractures beneath the disinformation crisis. This event marks the first public discussion of that work.

Eliot is joined by award-winning investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr - campaigner for a free and accountable press - for a timely discussion in collaboration with Media Revolution campaigners and early adopters of the Bellingcat ARC framework. Together they will examine how AI is supercharging already established disinformation networks - and what new civic, investigative, and institutional infrastructures are needed to rebuild shared reality.

Speakers:

• Eliot Higgins, Founder, Bellingcat
• Carole Cadwalladr, Investigative Journalist

Chair:

• Liz Pendleton, Co-Founder, Media Revolution

Image credit: Getty Images SvetaZi