Is fake news the new elector? Is social media the new press? Impact on the legal industry and investments in Latin America

Cristóbal Raby

Prieto, Santiago

craby@prieto.cl

Conference report

Biennial IBA Latin American Regional Forum Conference: Technology, social media and artificial intelligence: challenges for the legal industry in the digital age

24 March 2023

Plenary session

Session Co-Chairs

Francisco Roggero Zang Bergel & Viñes, Buenos Aires; Senior Vice-Chair, IBA Latin American Regional Forum

Carlos Umaña Brigard Urrutia, Bogota

Speakers

Ramon Jimeno Jimeno Acevedo Estrategia, Bogota

Juan Lozano Universidad Sergio Arboleda, Former Minister and General Media Coiunsel for Ardilla Lulle’s Organisation, Bogota

Andres Rengifo Microsoft, Bogota

Irene Velandia Google, Bogota

Co-Chair Francisco Roggero initiated preliminary comments on freedom of speech and the right to be duly informed as opposed rights and the importance of the technology in this discussion. In this line of behaviour, fact checking is key to use technologies correctly.

Co-Chair Carlos Umaña pointed out the importance of using the correct opportunity to detect fake news. He said that ‘where is information, there is opinion’, which is a key factor in order in duly understanding fake news dynamics. The message that he wanted to get across was that the current issuer of news is social media and that is very important to distinguish between information and opinion.

Pareja Bermudes pointed that journalists have the obligation to deliver truth and objective information, and that journalists must self-regulate to identify which news deserves special treatment.

Considering that the traditional media is relaying on technology, it is increasingly difficult to differentiate between information and opinion. Also, often the information which is being delivered is in direct proportion to the popularity of the said information, which is very dangerous because media could ignore important information simply because of the lack of ‘clicks’ it would generate.

In the opinion of Ramon Jimeno, fake news was created for business purposes, because fake news is made to interfere in debates and confuse the recipients of the information. The media has a very important role in detecting fake news through fact checking. Unfortunately, in recent years that role has not been duly addressed by media, so the public has lost confidence.

Juan Lozano, stated that freedom of speech is a fundamental right which is widely recognised and respected, but that recognition assumes that the given information is not fake. If the information that is being given out is fake, then the freedom of speech as a fundamental right, loses validity. In considering of this, freedom of speech must recognise certain boundaries, the main one being that truthful information is given.

He also said that journalists have the right to inform and the right to give their opinion, but this must always be based on true information and avoiding any kind of fake news. The media has a truly important role in the fact checking, because social media cannot be duly controlled, so what the media publishes must be information that has been checked.

Lozano also believed that the regulation of algorithms is a must and different countries should accelerate their regulations in this regard.

Andres Rengifo pointed out that the rights are dynamical, and they must be interpreted while considering the context. Currently, the main and most difficult context of which people must be aware, is the intensive use of technology, which is the main cause of the fake news problem. But it is also the main tool to protect recipients of information from fake news, because by making use of the technology it is easy to reach the source of the misinformation.