#rp25 speaker Harriet Kingaby: The battle for our brains

‘Information disorder’ is real, complex and highly commercial. At re:publica 25 Harriet Kingaby demystifies the term, and explains how economic incentives drive the creation, distribution, and amplification of the information pollution that's battling for our brains.

With her, we’ll be unpacking how creating healthy incentives for content production can lead to online information systems that benefit all of us. For this, Harriet will be offering a critical analysis of responsibility and concrete suggestions. Because the Attention Economy continues to swap our attention and data for revenue in the form of advertising. Even if this doesn’t sound like much, this model is breaking democracy, journalism, and arguably, capitalism.

Harriet Kingaby is a founder and thought leader. Her work centers around promoting solutions to information disorder. Her work encompasses a deep knowledge of advertising, corporate ethics, climate change and digital technologies. She has addressed the UN Forum for Business and Human Rights, COP, spoken about conscious media investment at Cannes, and was voted one of Forbes' 43 people changing advertising for the climate.  She is Co-Chair to the Conscious Advertising Network, which is committed to making advertising work for everyone. 

The motto of re:publica 25 is ‘Generation XYZ’. What is your message for future generations with regard to the digital society?

Harriet Kingaby: "Dear future generation, I hope we have done you proud. I hope that you live well, with a planet that's as unpolluted as the information systems where you learn, inform and entertain yourselves. I hope technology serves you, rather than the other way around. In 2025, it was tough. Our information systems were polluted, our planet was warming, and we were just starting to grapple with how AI might integrate as it grew. 

I hope that we were equal to the task. That we cut off the sources of information pollution, learned to tell better, and involved more people, justly, in the process of solving climate change. I hope we had the grit and courage to deliver you a world that's better than today. That we didn't sell out to the highest bidder.

Some words of advice we've learned the hard way – beware rich people overpromising about new technologies, be alert to consolidation of power, and don't lose sight of what really matters. The battle for your brain is real, we are fighting to win."