10/05/2021
On April 24, 2021, the MSc in Finance (MFin) Program hosted Mr. Billy Tea, CEO of Serum of Truth, to speak on the alarming, growing, and costly phenomenon of financial fake news. In his talk, Mr. Tรฉa described some of the psychological factors that predispose people to falling prey to fake news and the rapidly-changing social and technological environments that facilitate the acceptance and dissemination of misinformation and disinformation. More than a passing trend, fake news of every stripe is an affliction with real social, political, and economic consequences, easily topping $78 billion per year and growing. Worse, fakers are in the lead and gaining ground, as Mr. Tรฉa illustrated through examples of sophisticated deep-fake fraud, massive cyber-attacks, and fact-checking defeated by circular reporting and other means.
Awareness and education, Mr. Tรฉa argues, are the first steps in addressing this worrisome phenomenon. The discovery and defense of untainted truth, Academic Director Prof. MacKay stressed, have always been the mission of any self-respecting education institution, which underscores the importance of universities in their service to society. Our sincere thanks to Mr. Tรฉa for raising our collective awareness of this urgent problem and presenting us with preventive measures to identify and counter this affront on truth.