Skoll, the annual event for social entrepreneurs, warned of growing
   threats to free speech and democracy. But it also heard about
   challenges to disinformation.
   Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, now climate warrior, said his new
   passion is intimately connected to free speech issues. “To address the
   climate crisis we’re going to have to address the democratic crisis,”
   he said at the forum yesterday. “And to do that we’re going to have to
   address what’s happening with our information ecosystem.”
   Maria Ressa, winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, also speaking at
   Skoll, said she faced criminal charges in her native Philippines for
   trying to counter state-sponsored disinformation spread via social
   media. One of two journalists to win the prize since 1935, she said
   companies like Facebook use artificial intelligence to micro-target
   stories at individuals, exposing them to extremist views. This provides
   cover to leaders seeking to suppress dissent in democracies.
   “If you have no facts you have no truth,” she said. “If you have no
   truth you have no trust, and if you have no trust, you have no
   democracy.”