EVENT
Register for our panel on June 12: How Does a Resilient Civil Society Defend Democracy against Information Operations from Authoritarian Regimes? Experiences of Cofacts and Civic Tech Communities in Taiwan
The resilience of civil society is one of the most important elements in countering the growing influence of authoritarian regimes. But how can we sustainably strengthen, inspire, and nurture it? Explore this with Cofacts and us at the How Does a Resilient Civil Society Defend Democracy against Information Operations from Authoritarian Regimes? Experiences of Cofacts and Civic Tech Communities in Taiwan panel on June 12, 2025, 09:00-11:00, GMT+2, at the FNF Europe Regional Office in Brussels (Avenue de Cortenbergh 711000 Brüssel Belgium)! Click here to register before June 9.
Massive disinformation, maliciously spread by authoritarian regimes, is destroying democracy in every country. Not only does it divide citizens, it also accelerates extremism and hinders all opportunities and spaces for citizens to have an honest, rational, fair and inclusive discussion about public affairs. Such information operation directly targets citizens and saturates the whole society in every country. Therefore, defensive efforts should not only be made with a top-down approach or by governments alone. It is crucial to explore solutions from civil society, especially those inspired and nurtured by the essence of civil society: unlimited creativity, resilience and diversity.
That's why the Global Innovation Hub would like to introduce you to the story of Cofacts and the g0v Civic Tech Project & Community Handbook. Cofacts is a social media fact-checking bot developed by Ms. Billion Lee and members of the civic tech community in Taiwan. Any citizen can send the suspicious information to the bot for fact-checking. The approach of how it fact-checks makes it more than just a bot: numerous volunteers gathered regularly in these 9 years to fact-check together. It's done by citizens and for citizens and open-sourced, making it as one of the success stories included in the g0v Civic Tech Project & Community Handbook.
The Handbook is co-developed by g0v jothon and the FNF Global Innovation Hub, and shows how to build civic tech communities and projects as successful as Cofacts, not only by presenting cases from around the world, but also by providing a methodology and exercise sheets that anyone can use to run a workshop.
With this panel, we hope that both of these civil society-initiated examples in Taiwan can provide you with useful experiences in not only inviting solutions, but also creating an environment that can continuously and actively cultivate innovative citizen-driven initiatives as such, which is an essential part of the resilience of democracy. And that’s why in this panel, in additon to presentation of experiecne, we will also invite you to evaluate how to create a community as such in your country or community together!
Agenda
*All in GTM+2 Time Zone
*During any Q&A, Workshop, and discussion sessions, participants are required to follow Chatham House Rule.
09:00-09:10 | Opening Greetings from FNF
- We will invite participants to Introduce themselves and share whether they initiate or know any civic society action fighting against information operations in Belgium (or in their communities).
09:10-09:25 | What Is Cofacts and How It Defends Taiwan against Information Operation from the PRC
- Billion Lee, Co-Founder, Cofacts
09:25-09:35 | What is the g0v Civic Tech Project & Community Handbook and How It Can Help to Defend Democracy against Authoritarian Influence
- Ya-wei Chou, Programme Manager, Global Innovation Hub, FNF
09:35-09:45 | Questions and Answer Session
09:45-09:50 | Tea Break
09:50-10:45 | Workshop: What Do We Need to Build Civic Tech Communities in Your Community / Country? Evaluation from the Degree of Open Data, Civic Participation Activeness, Private-Public Collaboration.
10:45-10:50 | Wrap-up
10:50-11:00 | Final QA session
About Our Panelists
Billion is the co-founder of Cofacts, a project she initiated in 2016. She is a staunch advocate for marriage equality and open freedom, dedicating herself to bridging diverse communities and providing empowerment courses to combat disinformation. She is expertise in civic technology and digital democracy. Billion has participated in the Fellowship of Professional Fellows Program and the decentralized Dweb Camp fellowship. She has visited PolitiFact and Poynter in the United States for exchanges, fostering collaboration with contributors from various countries to clarify information. Besides, she manages a community focused on developing OSINT fact-checking skills and enhancing media literacy. Billion is experienced in public speaking. She has delivered talks in Thailand, Singapore, Australia, the US, UK , Canada, Tunisia, Albania, the European Union, Costa Rica, and the United Nations in Geneva. Billion's efforts are aimed at creating a more informed and connected society, combating disinformation through education and community engagement.
Ya-wei serves as the Program Manager of FNF Global Innovation Hub, and her work in the Hub focuses on innovation for democracy. She enjoys exploring how people can use technology and innovation to foster democracy, freedom, and human rights. For example, she initiates the Innovation for Democracy Café and manages the Hub’s collaboration with its partner organizations on projects about open source, digital democracy, civic tech, and youth participation. Before joining FNF, she has worked for democracy and digital rights NGOs and political party. She holds a master degree in International Relations from National Taiwan University.
How to Register?
Due to space limitations, we have a limited number of seats and will have to select attendees. Participants will only be allowed to enter the venue upon presentation of our acceptance email. Please register at your earliest convenience before June 9 and check your email box to see if you have received the acceptance notice. FNF will close registration if space is full.