Daily Archives: February 6, 2021

The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth. 1984, George Orwell.

And then came Trump or did he? Journalists all over the world hold their heads in despair, some even in shame. We are all tarred now with the fake news brush, fingers point at traditional/mass media and the verdict is that we are all guilty. Weve apparently eroded the confidence of our audiences by taking sides and peddling lies, and we have damaged democracy in the process.

The fact is, journalists are easy scapegoats in societies enamoured of their new social media friends, who arent quite ready to accept their part in propagating what we have come to call fake news. Who hasnt shared, liked and praised stories, memes or pictures without fact-checking them, just because they came from someone familiar, even if vaguely so?

But none of that absolves the professionals of responsibility. Lets be honest: most newsrooms at the turn of the century decided to embrace and promote social media, first through blogging and citizen journalism, and then by actively incorporating it as one of their streams all the while deluding themselves that they would be able to influence and moderate the information on these platforms.

Vile content was, and still is, posted as audience opinions, just below main news. Lies, aspersions and a host of inaccuracies still creep in, despite filters, algorithms and pretensions of control.

In an era when the line between deliberate disinformation and news challenging dominant narratives has been blurred to suit the interests of the powerful, how can journalists and readers fight back? How do we repair the damage that has already been done?

YOU ARE FAKE NEWS

In January 2017, the 45th president of the United States of America was being inaugurated in front of a crowd that lets say wasnt as large as expected. The live TV images spoke for themselves. The new presidents press secretary swiftly declared this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration () on the globe. Challenged about her blatant lie, her response was truly Orwellian. She said her views were alternative facts.

Interestingly, Trump rose to power, aided by a group of youngsters from the obscure Macedonian town of Veles, whose motive was only profit. Their only interest in American politics was its potential to enrich them, by pulling in big audiences to their Facebook posts and the accompanying advertising windfall.

According to the BBC, Buzzfeeds media editor Craig Silverman found that, at the time of Trumps presidential campaign, there were close to 150 newly created websites spreading false news about his rival Hillary Clinton and aiding Donald Trump, many of which were registered in Veles. The hugely popular slogan at Trump election rallies in 2016 Lock her [Hillary] up was based on fake news about her supposedly criminal conduct on one such site.

With the rapid spread of this fake news on all social media platforms, and on some mainstream media outlets as well, Trump happily appropriated the term and used it effectively throughout his presidency. But for him and his team, fake news was everything and everyone who did not paint a rosy view of his presidency.

Entering truly dystopian territory, Trumps lawyer Rudy Giuliani told an astonished Chuck Todd of NBC, Truth isnt truth! And to complete the Orwellian scenario, Trump gave a speech in July 2018, where he said: What youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening. Like Orwell warns in 1984, once you are told to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears, you can expect total alienation.

The alienated assaulted the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, provoked by Trumps alternative facts, in a reminder of our very own 2014 D Chowk dharna. Trump claimed to have won the November 2020 presidential election. Official data shows Joe Biden got seven million votes more than Trump, giving him 51 percent of the vote, and 306 seats of the US Electoral College.

But these alternative facts resulted in five dead, dozens arrested; lawmakers and their aides children terrorised in the crche inside the Capitol and the US legislature besieged by an inflamed mob. A recent Reuter/Ipsos poll showed 68 percent of Republican voters still believe the election was rigged, which means a whopping 50 million Americans have no faith in their democracy anymore.

AN OLD TACTIC

Trump did not invent fake news. It has been a constant throughout history.

Emperor Octavian ran a successful smear propaganda against Marc Antony who was, until then, the most admired general of the Roman army. Octavian printed some of his misrepresentations of Antony on coins for maximum exposure, putting into question the generals loyalty to Rome. Another Roman emperor, Nero, cunningly accused Christians of being responsible for the great fire of Rome in 64AD, leading to their being scapegoated for centuries after.

But never has the truth been more twisted and embellished than in times of conflict. There are many examples of wartime propaganda lies. In 1898, a massive explosion sank the battleship USS Maine in Cubas Havana harbour, killing 260 American crew members. The US accused Spain of being behind the massacre and declared a war that was won easily in less than three months, gaining control of many territories.

In those months, the Hearst- and Pulitzer-owned press outlets in the US presented the Spaniards as monsters who fed their prisoners to the sharks and cut the ears of the Cubans. In 1976, American naval investigators concluded that the Maine explosion was actually caused by a fire that ignited its ammunition stocks, not by a Spanish act of sabotage.

Fake news has been a constant throughout history. Emperor Octavian ran a successful smear propaganda against Marc Antony who was, until then, the most admired general of the Roman army. Octavian printed some of his misrepresentations of Antony on coins for maximum exposure, putting into question the generals loyalty to Rome.

Who has read even a little about World War II and not heard of Goebbels name, his work and words: If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.

Some of us still remember the Radio Pakistan bulletin on December 16, 1971. The newsreader said: After an agreement between local commanders, ceasefire was declared in East Pakistan. But, turning the dial on to the BBC frequency, we learnt that the Pakistan Army had, in fact, surrendered to Indian troops. Only the day before, it seems, banner headlines in Pakistani papers had screamed the Eastern Military Commander Lt Gen Amir Abdullah Khan Niazis statement that Indian tanks would have to go over his dead body to enter Dhaka.

THE RECENT PAST

Fast forward to February 14, 2003, when UN Chief Weapons Inspector to Iraq, Hans Blix, reported back to the Security Council that his group had not found any such weapons [of mass destruction], only a small number of empty chemical munitions.

Disregarding Blixs report and citing the existence of dangerous stockpiles of those weapons as a pretext for his actions, the US president, George W Bush, supported by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, nevertheless declared war on Iraq on March 20, 2003. The events of September 11, 2001 had shaken the US and its allies. They declared a war on terror, a term which served as a blanket justification for just about any course of action they would take.

The US media didnt scrutinise the conduct of Bush for starting a war that the UN has since declared illegal several times over. When the BBC attempted to question Prime Minister Tony Blairs grounds to justify the war, it was boxed into a corner by the Labour government on a technicality, rather than the substance of its report that the war dossier had been sexed up. Tragically, the BBC reporter Andrew Gilligans source, an official chemical weapons expert and scientist Dr David Kelly, allegedly committed suicide after coming under government pressure. BBC Chairman Gavyn Davis and Director General Greg Dyke both lost their jobs as a consequence and the BBC has since struggled to assert, unapologetically, its editorial independence.

On March 11, 2004, a series of coordinated bombings in thecommuter train system of Spains capital Madrid left 193 people dead and around 2,000 injured. The Spanish mainstream media, initially and without exception, regurgitated the prime ministers claim that the terror bombings were carried out by the Basque separatist group ETA, which had executed a bloody campaign on Spanish security forces mainly (but not exclusively) since the 1970s, and most papers led with the headline: ETA massacre in Madrid.

Meanwhile, all along, police investigations had pointed in the direction of Al Qaeda who later claimed responsibility even citing irrefutable evidence of the presence of members of one of its cells in the vicinity of the train stations that morning. In fact, the bombings were a reaction to Spains decision (overwhelmingly opposed by Spaniards) to deploy troops to Iraq, a fact the government did not want to acknowledge three days before a general election.

Tell the truth demonstrations erupted across the country. Three days later, the Popular Party lost the elections, handing a surprise victory to the socialists of Jos Luis Rodrguez Zapatero.

Did the media enhance or diminish democracy that day? We can only say that the media certainly had an impact on the attitude and perception of a large number of Spaniards, who wanted accountability for what they perceived as deception.

MAKING BREXIT HAPPEN

In the lead-up to the 2016 referendum in the UK, in which the country decided by a wafer-thin majority to leave the EU, the Leave campaign deployed lies to win its argument.

For example, the Campaign run by Dominic Cummings (later Prime Minister Boris Johnsons key adviser) came up with the slogan plastered on campaign buses 350m a week for NHS, implying that, in a post-Brexit Britain free of EU control, there would be an additional 350 million pounds a week to support the resource-starved National Health Service.

Let alone the additional allocation to NHS, the amount was nowhere near what the EU exit would have delivered in savings. It was also not offset against the costs of Brexit, which would have yielded a negative figure. But the media reported the claim as fact and brought the other side, Remain, to refute it, thus suggesting the two sides were on par.

After the referendum, Cummings was asked in a BBC Newsnight interview if he knew his slogan was not true. I was given the task of winning the Referendum. Didnt I win? was his smug response. The media had failed the people again by demanding the Remain side find ways to refute blatant lies that news anchors should have never given a pass as valid facts in the first place.

So, fake news, or what the soviets called dezinformatsiya, has always been present, impacting our views and societies in different ways, and has always been a dangerous weapon in the hands of ruthless autocrats and manipulative populists.

When fake news morphs into the much-hyped information wars, or what our national security experts call Fifth Generation Warfare (5GW), and they themselves jump into it, at least in our domestic context, it serves only to erode democracy, hinder the mainstream media and the diversity it can reflect, and silence dissent. The external element of it and its efficacy as a tool of national security is not known.

FAKE NEWS AND THE INTERNET

The internet has given fake news an unprecedented scope and outreach that transcends borders and socio-economic groups. It potentially brings a global audience to the smartphones in our palms in seconds and pretty much for free. Social media has enabled fake news in ways nobody predicted.

For a long time, social media moguls were more interested in enriching themselves rather than in tackling the devil in their platforms. But things may be changing.

While traditional media (CNN, NBC, BBC etc) edit out information for being antidemocratic, and innumerable fact-checking websites have sprouted all over the world to guard the truth (maldita.es, Fact Check, Alt News etc), Twitter, Facebook and other platforms are now also scrambling to assert damage control, to clear their platforms of fake news.

In 2019, Twitter and Facebook closed thousands of accounts alleging they were run by our militarys PR wing. Some of these handles may have been targeting the enemy across the borders, but many were also carrying out sustained malicious campaigns against opposition parties and dissenting citizens. In 2016, Nawaz Sharif was vilified for calling for measures that Pakistan eventually rolled out at FATF (Financial Action Task Force) gunpoint four years later. Both the then prime minister and this paper because it broke the story were castigated by such accounts on social media, in a sustained, vile campaign.

Whereas Pakistans entry into 5GW via social media sites on the internet is a relatively recent phenomenon, investigations by the EU DisinfoLab showed the Indians have been neck deep in it for at least 15 years. The EU DisinfoLab is an independent non-profit organisation focused on tackling sophisticated disinformation campaigns targeting the EU, its member states, core institutions and core values. The non-profit published its findings in two reports, in 2019 and in December 2020.

EU DISINFOLAB

In their stories, appearing simultaneously in December last year, Ramsha Jahangir (Dawn) and Abid Hussain and Shruti Menon (BBC online), quoted the EU DisinfoLab research report which traced over 750 fake media to a Delhi-based holding company, the Srivastava Group (SG).

The Brussels-based group said it was unable to uncover direct evidence of a link between the Indian government and this elaborate operation. Nevertheless, the network, spread over 116 countries, carried out a global disinformation campaign to serve Indian interests by creating fake news against Pakistan (and in some cases China) and then by distributing it.

Democracy may already have been irreparably damaged by the collusion of the Goswamis of the media world with the Trumps, the Bolsonaros and the Modis that come to power or who, like the Cummings and the Steve Bannons of the world, enable others of their ilk to achieve power by spewing blatant lies that large swathes of people happily believe.

It is the largest network we have exposed, Alexandre Alaphilippe, executive director ofEU DisinfoLab told the BBC. The network was designed primarily to discredit Pakistan internationally and influence decision-making at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and European Parliament, BBC said, quoting the EU DisinfoLab.

Apart from more than 750 fake media and over 550 website domain names, SG also directly controlled in excess of 10 NGOs accredited to the UN Human Rights Council. The fake media were mostly found in Brussels and Geneva. The group had resurrected defunct media, NGOs, and even a dead individual in one case, as part of its propaganda drive, as well as created innumerable fake journalists.

According to the BBC, the EU DisinfoLab partially exposed the network in 2019 but now says the operation is much larger and more resilient than it first suspected. It relies heavily on amplifying content produced on fake media outlets with the help of the Asian News International (ANI) Indias largest wire service (Text and TV) and a key focus of the investigation. Those who have experience of covering India and its various undercurrents say that, if ANI were hand-in-glove with SG in the campaign, then a link to the Indian security establishment would also be found if properly probed in India.

Titled Indian Chronicles, the EU DisinfoLab report says the operation targeted members of the European Parliament and the United Nations raising questions about how much EU and UN staff knew about SGs activities, and whether they could have done more to counter those activities, especially after the 2019 report.

The report cited dozens of specific examples where ANI picked up content from a fake news outlet and circulated it widely.

For its part, on its corporate website, the Delhi-based SG claims ownership of just three media entities in India but makes no mention of any of the sites, NGOs and people that the EU watchdog cites in its report. It also says its mission is to preserve the natural systems on which all life depends; to create and publish content that educates, informs and inspires; and to build healthier lives.

Obviously, nowhere does it say it runs a sophisticated global disinformation machine and campaigns to further Indias foreign and security policy goals. Some of Delhis senior journalists we asked said they had never heard of SG!

INDIAS PAKISTAN OBSESSION

Disinformation against Pakistan seems like a sizable industry in India. The Pakistan obsession is such that sections of the Indian media do not even shy away from inventing news of trouble and turmoil in Pakistan.

Last December, when senior officers of the Sindh Police protested against the forced removal of their chief from his Karachi home by Rangers and intelligence officials so he could be persuaded to order the arrest of PMLN MNA and Maryam Nawaz Sharifs husband Capt Mohammad Safdar some in the Indian media went to town with fake news.

Even fake Sindh Police handles were created on Twitter to echo the TV channels fake news of a civil war like situation in Karachi, with reports of shootouts and mounting casualties in street-fighting between the police on the one side, and the paramilitary Rangers and the army on the other.

Like certain Pakistani anchors close ties even allegiance to the security establishment and the governing party, a nexus also exists between several high profile Indian journalists and the BJP government and security services.

One was exposed recently when Mumbai Police downloaded chats from the phone of Arnab Goswami, who runs the pro-BJP Republic TV and hosts one of the channels prime time news and current affairs programmes. He is known for a shrill and obnoxious anti-Pakistan stance on his channel whenever Indias western neighbour is discussed and, generally, has a distinct pro-BJP slant in his domestic coverage.

His chats with the man who heads the influential ratings agency that decides the volume and, crucially, the price tag, of advertisements on various Indian TV channels by certifying their viewership numbers, were leaked by the Mumbai Police. This happened after the anchor was arrested on criminal charges and his phone was also confiscated and analysed.

The chats demonstrate that he knew of Goswami Indian plan to carry out an air strike against a supposed militant target in Pakistans Balakot in 2020, three days ahead of the actual air raid. By sharing this classified information, he was attempting to show the ratings agency head how well-connected he was and how well his channel would do/does in covering issues, by getting a head-start via their government sources. His ultimate goal was to manipulate the ratings in his favour.

TRUTH BE TOLD

Democracy may already have been irreparably damaged by the collusion of the Goswamis of the media world with the Trumps, the Bolsonaros and the Modis that come to power or who, like the Cummings and the Steve Bannons of the world, enable others of their ilk to achieve power by spewing blatant lies that large swathes of people happily believe. Facebook and Twitter may have acted against Trump rather late in the day and, some critics say, inappropriately. But how do we, as professionals, make sure we curtail misinformation without inhibiting the diversity of views?

The answer is by going back to the basics: find the truth, verify facts, cleanse content of bias; challenge the lie that defies the data (vaccines dont prevent disease and deaths), challenge the blatant implausibility (the earth is flat!) and then report. Invite views but dont let inaccuracies fly freely, no matter where they are coming from.

It may sound simple and almost naive because, if truth be told, we journalists dont exist in a vacuum. We, too, belong to societies where profit has overtaken morality. We, too, are workers with families to feed. The owners of media empires that employ us have close ties to the same powers that, on occasion, benefit from fake news and misinformation.

Looking back at the past few years, however, it seems obvious that far too many journalists were complicit in creating parallel universes, with parallel realities. Republic TV has been mentioned as one of the few most obvious examples in India. Fox News jumps to our mind in the US; but every country has its Fox news. And some more than one. Pakistan is no different.

And if the media has damaged democracy, so has inexplicably nearly half the global populace. Despite having more access than ever to reliable information, more opportunities than ever to vote in better governments, it continues to exercise choices reflecting swallowed-digested fake news and false narratives, by electing despicable charlatans.

The challenge facing democratic, pluralistic societies is how to bring them back from the dark side into a new era of enlightenment, where truth truly matters to all.

Carmen Gonzalez is a former BBC and Instagram Editor. Abbas Nasir is a former BBC executive and past Editor of Dawn

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 31st, 2021

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LIVING IN THE AGE OF FAKE NEWS - DAWN.com

A community group has told how it is desperately trying to battle misinformation and fake news which is deterring Dudley people from taking the Covid vaccine.

Lye-based Turning Points Solutions say they have some people telling them Id rather go to my grave than take the vaccine.

Its a far-too-common attitude that the group also known as The Ladies Sunshine Club are trying to fight with a campaign of videos and building trust.

Turning Points, founded by Maimoona Qari, focuses on supporting women and families across Dudley borough.

Maz, as she is known, says they are battling low uptake of the vaccine in certain communities.

There is a lot of fear mongering, conspiracy theories and fake news.

Social media is being manipulated and is spreading a lot of fake stories. There is one which claims to show a young girl surrounded by a crying family after she collapses from the vaccine. But it turns out the girl was actually drunk and it has nothing to do with the vaccine.

Maz thinks the fake news is finding fertile ground among already disengaged communities, where there are language barriers and where trust in government particularly over the handling of the pandemic is low.

But it is fighting back with videos of its own, filmed in various languages, showing local community leaders and their families taking the vaccine, and trusted local doctors.

I sense things are turning around. As people have seen us and have been listening to our advice to take the vaccine they are tending to say, actually this must be safe.

Maz, a first Class honours Law graduate, originally began work at the Dudley Asian Womens Centre in 2000 and later set up the Turning Points social enterprise after starting her own family with the aim of supporting and campaigning for extra resources for local women and families.

Twenty years on she is as passionate about it as the day she started.

Her most common expression is empowering, and now there are six facilitators at Turning Points helping to provide online support to around 250 families through the pandemic with wellbeing activities for mothers and their children; emergency food help; free home schooling; English classes; exercise and fitness sessions; bereavement support and much else. They have been providing women from low incomes with free tablets to be able to get take part in online activities and alleviate loneliness.

She hopes that Covid can act as a turning point. Communities were already struggling but Covid has shown up those disparities. Now we need to make sure people are no longer suffering in silence, that their voice is heard.

She is working on a book of inspirational stories of womens experiences through the pandemic - including front line workers - and at the same time putting together online blogs and activities for International Womens Week in March.

For more information, go to: http://www.turningpoints.org.uk , or https://www.facebook.com/groups/2567043296887403/?ref=share

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Fake news and conspiracy theories risk to vaccine roll-out in Dudley - Stourbridge News

Gangland criminals are now producing expensive fake news media content for sharing across online platforms in a bid to convince people there was a State conspiracy against them and to rebrand themselves as businessmen, the senior Garda officer in charge of the investigation of Irish organised crime has said.

Assistant Commissioner John ODriscoll, who leads the Gardas Organised Crime Section, said he was even aware of documents purporting to come from international law enforcement that had been forged and had been included in a fake news book circulated online.

He added when he viewed some of the videos that had been produced for sharing online including one that reenacted the Kinahan-Hutch feud shooting attack at the Regency Hotel in north Dublin exactly five years ago he was struck by the high production values and how money such content would cost.

Mr ODriscoll did not refer to the Kinahan cartel but the content he was referring to was produced at the behest of the gang and was very favourable to them.

Content such as a rap music video, a documentary and a book released online all portrayed Daniel Kinahan as a successful boxing promoter against whom a State conspiracy was now underway in his native Ireland to bring him down.

Mr ODriscoll said while anyone was free to criticise the Garda, criticism usually takes a different form to that seen in the fake news produced by some Irish criminal elements of late. Because the people at whose behest the fake news was produced, including the re-enactment of the attack on the Regency Hotel, were anonymous it was difficult to challenge them.

It is difficult to refute any of the bizarre allegations that are made, he said speaking to the media in Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, about the Gardas response to organised crime gangs.

My main observation [on viewing the fake news content] is it is interesting to see the expense that would have been involved in putting forward ones view or criticisms of the State and the Garda Sochna.

As I say, (people) are quite entitled to criticise us and ask questions of us, but that is fascinating in terms of the extent to which these particular individuals have the capacity to resource that particular way of presenting their case.

The media event Mr ODriscoll was addressing was being held on the day before the fifth anniversary of an attack on Dubliner Daniel Kinahan and his associates at a boxing match weigh-in at the Regency Hotel, north Dublin, during which his associate David Byrne (34) was killed and others were wounded, though Kinahan escaped uninjured.

Mr ODriscoll added the Garda was operating on the basis the Kinahan-Hutch feud was ongoing, though there had been no feud murders for three years.

The Garda anticipated further attacks and the crimes committed to date were still under investigation. Specifically, detectives investigating the attack at the Regency Hotel had put further evidence in files and sent them to the DPP, whose office was currently reviewing that material to determine if criminal charges should be taken against suspects.

Daniel Kinahan has alleged, in a statement realised last week to the BBC Panorama programme via his British-based lawyer, he could never get a fair trial in the Republic and that Garda evidence in recent court cases was effectively opinion presented as fact.

When asked about this, Mr ODriscoll said he could not reply in relation to any named person. But he said recent court decisions and rulings relating to Kinahan-Hutch feud convictions had clearly accepted the evidence presented by the Garda as factual and reliable.

Mr ODriscoll said the Garda was continuing to dismantle the Kinahan cartel and was working with international law enforcement in that regard.

Members of the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau had visited the United Arab Emirates where members of the cartel were based.

Overall, the bureau had seized drugs valued at 206 million since its establishment in 2015 as well as 133 firearms, 5,516 rounds of ammunition and 21.7 million in cash. Last year alone it seized drugs valued at 37.7m, 23 firearms, 2,131 rounds of ammunition and made 228 arrests while also seizing 8 million in cash. Since the start of 2019 some 65 criminals were convicted in the courts and jailed for five years or more arising from investigations by the bureau.

The seizures, arrests and convictions were not all related to the Kinahan cartel or its feud with the Hutch group, as they also included other gangs.

More here:

Gangland criminals spreading expensive fake news, garda warn - The Irish Times

Broad-based knowledge, integrated across multiple viewpoints and lenses and informed with critical thinking, is the foundation of the liberal education philosophy of teaching and learning.

The current generation of students comes to post-secondary education with two broad goals.

Firstly, they want training for careers: they want to study topics that interest them in order to obtain good jobs and build satisfying and productive work lives.

In recent years, evidence has been mounting about how quickly the job market is changing. COVID is exacerbating this. Many jobs that exist today may disappear tomorrow, and many of the jobs our students will apply for in 10 years dont even exist yet.

Most people will change not just jobs but careers multiple times over the coming decades. This means the emphasis of education should not only be on learning specific content or particular techniques, but in addition the ability to learn new concepts quickly and well, to look for ways to improve your work, and to be resourceful and resilient in a changing employment world.

Secondly, this generation of students also considers deeply the many problems with our world, and beyond job prospects they want to impact the world around them to help us live better lives. A recent CNN article reports the number of students applying to medical school in the U.S. has risen 18 per cent, in what is being called the Fauci effect. Here, at the University of Lethbridge, we have seen a strong increase in applications for public health, counselling psychology and therapeutic recreation programs, and I suspect other post-secondaries are seeing similar increases for their health-related offerings.

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Opinion: Fake news, pandemic, evolving job market a liberal education is needed more than ever - Calgary Herald

TikTok is tackling the scourge of mis- and disinformation by launching a new feature that highlights the uncertainty of unverified content, aiming to slow its spread across the app.

From today in the US and Canada, and February 22 in the UK, any video that TikToks content moderators or fact checkers have tried to check but cannot immediately verify will have a banner appended to it saying that the video may contain unsubstantiated content.

If a viewer then tries to share that video, a further prompt will appear reminding them that the video contains content that couldnt be verified, and asking them if they really want to share the video anyway.

In trials conducted by the platform, the combination of the banner questioning the content and the prompt reminding viewers resulted in a 24% decrease in sharing of videos with potentially false content.

People come to TikTok to be creative, find community, and have fun, said Gina Hernandez, product manager in TikToks trust and safety team, in a blog post announcing the feature. Being authentic is valued by our community, and we take the responsibility of helping counter inauthentic, misleading, or false content to heart.

The banner and prompt will be particularly useful in the case of breaking news events, where its often difficult to immediately substantiate whether information being shared is true or false. By disincentivizing engagement, TikTok hopes to slow the spread of fake news around live news events.

Weve designed this feature to help our users be mindful about what they share, said Hernandez.

The feature is being introduced to accompany, not replace, TikToks current policies on misinformation. In the first half of 2020, TikTok removed around 1.25 million videos worldwide for issues of integrity and authenticity around 1.2% of all the videos they removed during that six months, and around 6,930 a day.

Those videos would still be removed for being false, Dexerto understands but on more borderline cases, where its difficult to ascertain objective fact in a situation, the new features could help reduce the speed of spread on the app.

The feature was developed by TikTok in conjunction with behavioural science experts Irrational Labs, and as well as reducing the shareability of content, it also decreased the number of likes questionable videos received by 7% in trials.

Labelling of content has been previously used by other tech-firms to combat misinformation, said Yevgeniy Golovchenko, who studies disinformation at the University of Copenhagen. Existing research from other platforms suggests that labels may indeed help curb the labelled stories.

The academic points out that a similar method has been previously deployed by Facebook on some of its content.

Golovchenko does, however, sound a note of caution about the feature. There is also research which points towards potential dangers of using this technique, he said. By labelling some content, a social media platform can potentially make other non-labelled content both false and true appear more reliable.

Research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed the so-called implied truth effect was a risk.

When it comes such policies, regardless of whether they are implemented by TikTok, Instagram or other platforms, it is super important that the tech firms are transparent, he added. This should be done by providing researchers and journalists with accessible data on the labelling: What is labelled, when and why.

Some of those concerns may be headed off by the scale of TikToks moderation and fact-checking team, which is also being beefed up through a new partnership with Logically, one of the worlds biggest dedicated fact-checking organisations. They are supporting our efforts to determine whether content shared on the platform is false, misleading or misinformation, said Hernandez, who added: If fact checks confirm content to be false, well remove the video from our platform.

See original here:

TikTok adding new features to stop fake news and misinformation spreading - Dexerto

New Delhi: Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur spoke on the issue of fake news on DNA withZee News Editor in Chief Sudhir Chaudhary.

Thakur said the fake news issue raises a new cause of concern for the government and stated that strict legal action should be taken against people who spread false news.

He further spoke about a regulator that can raise questions to news channels, newspapers and even the digital platforms on the authenticity of the news that is being shared in the efforts to counter fake news.

Thakur pointed out that since the government respects an individual's the righ to freedom of expression so they cannot step in directly but if any leader uses the social media to spread fake/false news and does not even apologise then somebody has to set things straight. He spoke about setting an accountability for spreading fake news.

When asked if filing of FIRs is a solution to stop the spred of fake news? He replied, "In a democracy there has to be understanding and maturity and it should be there in every field and sector."

Meanwhile, FIRs have been registered against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and six senior journalists over the violence during farmers' tractor rally on Republic Day in Delhi. It has beenalleged that "digital broadcast" and "social media posts" by these people were responsible for the violence during atractor rally by farmersin Delhi on January 26.

They have been booked under sedition, among other charges.

Live TV

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DNA exclusive: Anurag Thakur`s first reaction on fake news - Zee News

If, just a few years ago, someone had stated in public that a global elite was kidnapping children and torturing them to harvest their blood to make an elixir of youth, they would have been directed to the nearest psychiatric ward. Yet according to a British poll, some 10% of US citizens saythey believe in at least some elements of this absurd theory known asQAnon.

The conspiracy theory has also been doing the rounds in Germany and, according to the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which sets out to combat far-right ideologies and racism, it has already attracted some 150,000 supporters. This makes the German QAnon community the largest outside of the English-speaking realm.

A Konrad Adenauer Foundation study conducted from October 2019 to February 2020 found that around a third of Germans were open to conspiracy theories. Not counting children under 14, that's 24 million people. Other polls support this figure,and have found many links between QAnon supporters, COVID-19 deniers and right-wing extremists.

How can such blatant nonsense resonate in an enlightened world? After all, this is the 21st century, not the Middle Ages. The answer is: It's just all a mouse click away.Social networks are the perfect breeding ground for fake news and conspiracy theories.

A study conducted in Germany by Correctiv, which describes itself as a nonprofit investigativenewsroom, concluded that Facebook and YouTube were the platforms on which the most false information was spread, with messaging services such as Telegram and WhatsApp not far behind. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyfound that it took six times longer to reach 1,500 people with real news than with fake news.

Social media platforms are in a predicament. On the one hand, they have tended to defend a very broad concept of free speech and tolerate content that amounts to fake news, profanity and insults. It was only in October 2020 that Facebook agreed to take down "content that denies or distorts the Holocaust." Holocaust denial has long been considered a crime in many countries.

On the other hand, these platformsare beginning to admit that the rapid spread of fake news and hatred facilitated by their platforms poses a danger as shown by the storming of the US Capitol last month.

In response to this wake-up call, some platforms are beginning to hold users to account and have blocked the accounts of prominent and less prominent people. Some also now flag fake news with a warning.

But this isn't enough. Facebook and the rest must also be made liable for content such as fake news and hate speech posted on their platforms. The European Commission has tried to address this with its Digital Services Act but faces the difficulty of navigating the thin line between curbing the spread of fake news and censorship.

Martin Muno

Not only that media competence must also be taught more in schools.Young people are more likely to gain their information from social media than traditional news outlets, which need to develop formats better suited to reaching the "YouTube generation."

These are urgent, crucial changes.Conspiracy theories must be resisted because they harbor the potential to destroy democracies, as witnessed not so long ago in Washington.

Last week, in her speech to the German Bundestag on International Holocaust Day, the activist and politician Marina Weisband made it clear: "Being Jewish in Germany means understanding that [the Holocaust] did happen, and that it could happen again. It means that anti-Semitism doesn't start when somebody shoots at a synagogue. That the Shoah did not begin with the gas chambers. It starts with conspiracy narratives."

This article has been adapted from German

Who was really behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York? Was it the US government, meaning the Twin Towers were subject to a controlled explosion? Was it a Jewish conspiracy, with some claiming that Jews did not go to work in the World Trade Center that day? An exhibition titled "Conspiracy theories then and now" at the Dalheim Monastery shows how such beliefs emerge and are maintained.

In the so-called "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," 12 Jewish leaders allegedly layed out their plans to conquer the world in writing. In reality, the 1903 document (pictured here in the exhibition at the Dalheim Monastery) is a work of fiction by Sergej Nilus, an anti-Semitic Russian writer and publisher. The protocols are a central part of modern day anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

The idea of a Jewish conspiracy was also a central part of Nazi ideology. The Nazis spread alleged revelations gleaned from the fake Protocols of the Elders of Zion for their own purposes, reprinting them in their weekly "Der Strmer" (The Attacker) propaganda newspaper.

People who believe in the barcode conspiracy probably have a special pen in their pockets when they approach a checkout counter to neutralize what they believe is negative energy radiating from the barcode. The barcode information supposedly aims to reduce the world population. Some companies even go so far as to print a line through the barcode to keep their customers happy.

Those seeking to explain major political events and revolutions have often invoked grand conspiracies. In the wake of the 1789 French Revolution, secret societies such as the Freemasons and Illuminati were seen as the all-powerful rabble-rousers. Pictured is an Illuminati Minerval class medal currently on show at the "Conspiracy Theory - Past and Present" exhibit that runs through March 22, 2030.

Author: Torsten Landsberg (db)

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Opinion: QAnon, conspiracy theories are no joke - DW (English)

Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar on Monday gave his first reaction on fake news that has been doing the rounds after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2021-22.

Speaking exclusively to DNA Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary, Javadekar said that the Narendra Modi government is committed to farmers' empowerment and so it has introduced several schemes in the last few years. This year the Modi government to increase the income of the farmers so it is imposing agriculture cess.

However, the consumer will not have to pay more for any of these items. On the hike in petrol prices, he said that the cess will not affect people as it is being imposed after removing excise duty. The government is increasing farmers income.The burden will not be on people' pocket but on the government, stated Javadekar, adding that fake news was doing rounds on this.

Secondly, he added that another fake news that has been doing rounds was that the government is planning to sell LIC. He added that the ownership of LIC will remain with the government but a few shares will be floated in the market as Initial public offering (IPO). He added that news of the government giving up ownership is not right.

He also said that during the UPA-rule the inflation or price rise was in double digits every year but now it has been controlled.

Javadekar spoke on the fake news on the picture of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at Rashtrapati Bhavan and that on farmer's death due to police firing. He said that some journalists tweeted that it was the picture of an actor and not that of Netaji, which is fake news, as even the actor in question confirmed that it was not his picture. The Union Minister said that it was wrong to spread such fake news and called it irresponsible to post such content without FactCheck. He also added that no farmer was killed in police firing.

Earlier, Javadekar hailed the Budget as 'forward-looking' and said it will give a major fillip to employment. Speaking to the media after the presentation of the budget by Sitharaman in Parliament, Javadekar commented that the coronavirus pandemic has hit economies across the world, but India is moving forward towards prosperity along with winning the battle against COVID-19.

"India has not only won the battle against COVID-19 but is also moving forward in its fight against poverty and towards prosperity," he said. Highlighting the massive budgetary boost in capital expenditure, the Minister said that the over Rs five lakh crore investment in infrastructure is a major initiative. "This will give a major fillip to employment," he added.

The budget will do justice with farmers, generate more employment opportunities and will be beneficial for all, the BJP leader said.

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DNA exclusive: Prakash Javadekar`s first reaction on fake news - Zee News

Andy Farrell has dismissed as fake news the queue of former Ireland internationals and pundits lining up to rubbish Wales' chances on Sunday.

Wales' difficulties under new boss Wayne Pivac saw them only beat Italy and Georgia in 2020 - in a year when they also lost twice to Ireland.

Both games were at the Aviva Stadium, however, and Ireland head coach Farrell is keen to talk up the Welsh threat ahead of the Principality Stadium clash in Cardiff.

Reacting to the confident words of the likes of Stephen Ferris and Donal Lenihan, Farrell said: "That's the way of the world, we are realistic that's what happens.

"I think between the two camps we know the truth. We know it is going to be a war of attrition at the weekend.

"We haven't won in Cardiff since 2013, which says a lot. We are expecting Wales to be 100% at their best.

"We have played them at their best before and come unstuck so we have prepared accordingly.

"Listen, it doesn't really matter what goes on in the papers or the news in the coming days, the game will still be the same.

"Both teams will try and get in the ascendancy and a foothold in the game.

"Physically, set piece...once the whistle goes the game is just the same. We expect a tough old battle."

So the claim that the Welsh are past it in this post-Warren Gatland era?

I dont believe that for one second," declared Farrell. "Our boys are very familiar with everyone on the Welsh squad because they play against them all the time.

"Some are good friends and we know what top performers they can be when they come under pressure. This is the start of a new competition and theyll want to right some wrongs.

Theyre an experienced side that has been in good positions before and difficult positions before.

"I suppose the slate is wiped clean at the start of a competition and this is a huge game for both teams."

Farrell has made four changes from the side that beat Scotland in Ireland's final Autumn Nations Cup clash in December.

James Lowe, Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier and Garry Ringrose all return after injury, with Lowe, who hasn't played since suffering a groin injury in November, the most surprising call.

Not really, not in our eyes," Farrell said. "Hes a great player thats right for this game.

"Hes been in great form. Its been seamless him getting back into action like most of the other lads.

"In his position, Jordan (Larmour) hasnt played much games either. Andrew Conway in the same boat.

"Theyve all come in fit and raring to go and up to speed on where we need to be.

"When you select a side obviously first and foremost you want the right balance for the side and I think you can agree its a strong team, a strong 23 and one thats raring to go at the start of a new competition."

There are plenty of Irish players like Lowe who have had very little in the way of top-level competition over the last few weeks.

Most teams are in that predicament as well," said Farrell.

"We asked the boys to make sure at the end of the autumn that, come the Six Nations, they were fit and healthy and raring to go and to perform at the top level, whats needed to compete with the best of the Six Nations.

"And we like what we have seen from all of the squad, really."

Reacting to the Josh Adams controversy after the dangerous winger breached Welsh Covid protocols by attending a family event last weekend, Farrell said he had no worries about the rest of the home side being healthy.

"All teams are getting tested twice a week, I suppose you can't get more stringent than that," he said.

"It is something that we spoke about when we first came into camp and it is something we have spoken about since because obviously we want to make sure that does not happen in our group.

"Everyone is keeping a stringent eye on protocols and it is something we are doing pretty well and did do pretty well during the autumn."

Wales, as expected, have gone with George North at no 13 in the absence of Jonathan Davies, record-breaking caps holder and skipper Alun Wyn Jones returns to the line-up and veteran Dan Lydiate has returned to a vastly experienced back row.

"It was expressed in the press so we were aware of it anyway," Farrell remarked.

"George North at 13 is something they have done before and Alun Wyn comes straight back into the side, I am sure he will add an advantage there to the feeling of the group.

"Lydiate coming back in will add new energy to the group. We expect them to be strong anyway but that side is a strong one."

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Andy Farrell dismisses predictions of Ireland canter in Cardiff as fake news - Irish Mirror

More than 2000 primary and secondary students across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are taking part in a number of free sessions designed to help children and young people learn how to spot fake news online.

The sessions have been organised by the Cyber Ambassador Scheme run by the Police and Crime Commissioners team as part of this years national Safer Internet Day on 9th February.

Online escape roomPrimary/Junior school students are taking part in a live online escape room where they will be tasked with unlocking codes to fight against fake news, and secondary/college students are taking part in a virtual webinar with interactive polls and quizzes.

At both events students will be able to get expert insights and advice from colleagues from the University of Portsmouth Cyber Crime Clinic.

Safer Internet Day Safer Internet Day is organised by the UK Safer Internet Centre. This years theme is exploring factual accuracy in the online world, looking at how users can separate fact from fiction.

The Cyber Ambassador events will be looking at false information, targeted advertising and influencer content, and focus on equipping young people with the skills that they need to spot inaccurate content.

Develop skills to be able to navigate complex online worldJames Payne, Chief Executive of the Police and Crime Commissioners office, said,

Living through a pandemic as a child means life is increasingly playing out online, including lessons as well as social interactions with friends on social media or gaming platforms.

Children have to make decisions at all times about who and what to trust online, and are being confronted with content that may not be all that it seems.

It is therefore important that they develop the skills they need to be able to navigate the complex online world and our Cyber Ambassador Scheme helps them do exactly that.

Free peer-to-peer cyber safety educationThe Cyber Ambassador Scheme provides free peer-to-peer cyber safety education and support to thousands of young people across the Hampshire and IOW policing area. Continuing to grow in reach and recognition, the scheme is now working in partnership with the University of Portsmouth Cyber Crime Clinic, Amazon Web Services, the Cyber HubTrust, CEOP ambassadors and CISCONetworking Academy.

These collaborations will help to expand the scheme even further, bridging cyber safety and cyber security, and will provide Cyber Ambassadors with even more opportunities to increase their knowledge so that they can keep their peers safer online.

Helping everybody understandhowandwhythey need to stay safe online Michael Klonowski, CEO of the CyberHub Trust, explained,

The Trust works with children, students and adults, to facilitate learning and real world work experience, to develop skills, experience and qualifications in Cyber Security. This is all based on the importance of helping everybody understandhowandwhythey need to stay safe online.

We are pleased to be collaborating with the NCA and the Police and Crime Commissioners Cyber Ambassador Scheme.

With all sessions for Safer Internet Day being fully booked, the webinar for secondary schools will be made available onYouTube(search for Cyber Ambassadors). Any schools interested in similar webinars or dial-in sessions as part of their online learning provision can contact the Cyber Ambassador Scheme via[emailprotected].

News shared by the Police and Crime Commissioner, Michael Lane. Ed

Image: United Nations under CC BY 2.0

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Pupils will learn how to spot fake news on Safer Internet Day - On The Wight