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Mumbai: The U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai today hosted the final seminar of the “League of Disinformation Warriors” Fellowship. The fellowship provided skills training to emerging leaders to better address disinformation. The League of Disinformation Warriors Fellowship is a U.S. Department of State Public Diplomacy-funded collaboration with Yuvaa, a leading youth media organization with a social media following of over 900,000 Indian youth.
Throughout the nine-month fellowship, which concluded today, 15 emerging digital influencers from diverse backgrounds across Western India participated in extensive monthly workshops led by leading disinformation experts from across India.
The participants are now applying their training to develop online and offline digital media campaigns to counter misinformation in their communities. U.S. Consul General Mike Hankey addressed the final seminar and discussed real-world case studies with the fellows, examining successful initiatives to counter disinformation in various contexts. Speaking on the occasion, Consul General Hankey highlighted that collaborative efforts and shared knowledge can strengthen our strategies to address disinformation.
“This seminar is a key step in our collective effort to counter disinformation by bringing together representatives from diverse professions and backgrounds. It will help in sharing best practices and innovative solutions that empowers communities to discern truth from falsehoods,” said Consul General Hankey.
Yuvaa Editor-in-Chief Maanvi, the implementing partner for the project said, “The fellowship trained 15 young people from across India on tools to address disinformation and empowered them to create impact-led projects in their communities. We hosted journalists, tech experts, policy analysts, psychologists, and climate change activists to better understand disinformation in our communities. As the fellowship draws to a close, we’re delighted to see impactful projects looking at disinformation through the lens of mental health, LGBTQ+ rights, education, and climate.”
