21.01.2025 - At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on 21 January, high-ranking panellists discussed how trusted data can be made more easily accessible and user-friendly in order to counteract misinformation. Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider launched the discussion. High-ranking representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO), the University of Copenhagen and the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) were among the participants. The panel also presented a study on the creation of a metadata platform listing trustworthy data sources.
The event "Data for all and everyone - is this the solution to combat misinformation?' took place as part of Geneva Day 2025. Each year, Geneva Day at the House of Switzerland brings together business and civil society stakeholders on the fringes of the WEF to discuss topical issues affecting the international organisations based in Geneva.
At this year's event, Pádraig Dalton, the former chief statistician of the Central Statistics Office of Ireland presented his study, commissioned by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), on the feasibility of a Trusted Data Observatory.
The study recommended the creation by such a Geneva-based observatory of a metadata platform for the discovery and comparison of data from trusted sources. AI chatbots could then use this data to generate responses based on trusted data sources. In addition to promoting transparency and fact-based political decision-making, such a platform would also help to combat misinformation.
Facts vital to democratic decision-making
In her opening speech, Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider emphasised the importance of trusted data: “A democratic society depends on information from reliable sources. They enable fact-based public debate and thus create the basis for informed and well-supported decisions." At the subsequent panel discussion, Samira Asma, WHO Assistant Director-General for Data, Analytics and Delivery, Professor Vincent F. Hendricks from the University of Copenhagen and FSO Director General Georges-Simon Ulrich discussed how various actors at international level can help make such data more visible and thus usable.
