Exciting news! I have been accepted to present contestivism at the 2nd European Congress on Disinformation and Fact-Checking on October 29-30, 2025. At the conference, I will be going over the theoretical framework, its reconceptualization of disinformation and post-truth as products of an innate human meaning-making process, and key principles for designing contestivist solutions to the information crisis.

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Abstract

Beyond Fact-Checking: A Contestivist Approach to Disinformation

Traditional approaches to combating disinformation focus primarily on epistemic interventions—fact-checking, media literacy, and truth verification—yet these strategies consistently fail to address the deeper mechanisms driving misinformation spread. This paper introduces contestivism, a meta-paradigm that reframes disinformation not as a problem of false beliefs, but as expressions of fundamental struggles over meaning, power, and existential legitimacy.

Contestivism reveals that what we label “disinformation” often represents contested meanings across three simultaneous domains: epistemic (truth claims), axiological (value assertions), and ontological (reality boundaries). Rather than pathologizing alternative narratives, the framework recognizes them as inevitable products of human meaning-making processes where individuals and groups assert their right to exist meaningfully in the world.

This paradigm offers practical applications for disinformation interventions by: (1) identifying the axiological and ontological dimensions underlying seemingly epistemic disputes, (2) mapping how different communities navigate “gradients of being” through meaning assertions, and (3) developing strategies that address existential needs rather than merely correcting factual errors.

By understanding disinformation through contestivist analysis, practitioners can design more effective interventions that acknowledge the power dynamics and identity stakes involved in information contests. This approach moves beyond the limitations of fact-checking to address why certain narratives persist despite contradictory evidence, offering a more nuanced understanding of how meaning stabilizes and transforms in digital environments. The framework provides analytical tools for developing culturally responsive, power-aware strategies that recognize information disputes as fundamentally about being, not just believing.

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Sessions are going to be available online via Zoom. Register for free here: https://forms.gle/Su1x88gXBcFkKg3k9