Science and Misinformation in the Digital Age:

Date: 19 May 2026, 9.45-17.35 (Bucharest time)

Event Type: International Workshop

Event Organizer: New Europe College

Location: NEC conference room & Zoom

Convener: Alexandra BACALU, Trust Fellow

Participants: Alexandra BACALU, Stephanie A. BAKER, Cristian DUCU, Andreea EȘANU, Dragoș MANEA, Adriana MIHAI, Răzvan NICOLESCU, Mihai OMETIȚĂ, Mircea TOBOȘARU, Elena TRIFAN

The transition into a new digital era, which has seen the staggering proliferation of social media platforms and the expansion of virtual communities, has so far complicated and—in many cases—thoroughly unsettled some of the most fundamental categories of Western modernity: key distinctions between the public and the private spheres, rigorous scientific methodology and pseudoscience, professional expertise and unqualified opinion, political power and opposition, national identity and the fragmentariness of global and local communities, cultural hegemony and sub- or counter- culture(s), identity performance and individual authenticity, market branding and artistic self-expression, celebrity and anonymity, and more. In particular, the digital age has called into question the production of scientific knowledge and the credibility of political and public authorities, all while encouraging a larger movement towards anti-rationalism and anti-intellectualism on all sides of the ideological spectrum, thus contributing to the further erosion of some of the central myths of the Enlightenment. Such challenges can only be navigated with remarkable dexterity—and with a full understanding of some of the most fundamental cultural assumptions we are now forced to rethink.

This workshop explores the many ways in which the rise of social media and the advent of new digital technologies—including AI—are currently rewriting and rearticulating the related questions of knowledge and truth, authority, expertise, objectivity, credibility, veracity, authenticity—even vulnerability or intimacy. How, then, are traditional means of knowledge production and dissemination reconfigured by the social-cultural practices developed around digital media and their specific material-technological affordances? What renders some virtual spaces and digital platforms particularly suitable for the promotion of extremist political views and various forms of misinformation—whether authoritarianism and white supremacy; fanaticism and bigotry; fake news and conspiracy theories; native expertise and self-acclaimed guru wisdom; pseudoscientific or otherwise magical thinking? In what ways have the digital age and the rise of AI undermined formal education and traditional methods of research and dissemination—particularly in the field of the humanities? How are modern conceptions of selfhood and personal authenticity rearticulated by the emerging practices of identity performance developed across social media in today’s world? In order to answer some of these questions, considerable attention will be given to the inherent fluidity and versatility of the digital and the many ways in which scientific methodologies, epistemological categories, and modes of credibility and authenticity are reconfigured by the unprecedented intermingling of technologies, media, discourses, disciplines and genres brought about within virtual spaces.

This workshop is dedicated to all scholars in the humanities and social sciences working on new media, digital culture and online communities, the history and philosophy of science and technology, media and technology ethics, politics and mass media, conspiracy and disinformation studies, health and therapeutic cultures, and other relevant disciplines.

This workshop is organized within the Trust Fellowships program at New Europe College, supported by the Porticus Foundation.