On 26 October 2023, IOTA successfully held its latest Webinar on “Understanding and Mitigating the Disinformation Threats in Tax Administration”. This digital event had over 50 registered participants from 19 IOTA countries and featured speakers from two member tax administrations: Lithuania and the United Kingdom.
Disinformation, also known as "fake news", is a persistent threat in the digital space. Its spread and persistence, especially on social media platforms, pose a significant challenge for both users and content administrators. The recent Webinar provided an excellent platform for IOTA member countries to share their experiences and insights on identifying disinformation threats and effectively mitigating them in their respective tax administrations.
The Webinar provided a platform for IOTA member countries to share their views and experiences on identifying disinformation threats and how to mitigate them in their tax administrations. The following subjects were covered:
- Lithuania: “Protecting Your Pockets: Tax Administration's Battle Against Scammers” presented by Rūta Asadauskaitė;
- United Kingdom: “Identifying and Mitigating threats in a VUCA environment” presented by Jamie Baker & Liam Hobson.
Webinar participants also discussed the most commonly used channels to spread false information in tax administration such as Social Media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X) and mobile text messages. They also agreed that the current and most pressing challenges in the tax communication environment when dealing with disinformation threats are the lack of digital literacy and expertise among the staff and the lack of a proper strategy to set up a disinformation defense system.
All the materials and presentations are now available online and the event recording will be made uploaded soon to the event’s webpage. This event was moderated by the IOTA International Taxation Expert Massimo Morarelli and supported by the IOTA Communication Specialist Erika Szabo, the Webinar was broadcast live from the IOTA Studio in Budapest, Hungary.
