Category Archives: Fake News

(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump sent a mob of his supporters to the U.S. Capitol and then sat there cheering them on in private while they ransacked the place. It wasnt a mystery what was going on even in the moment. These people were telling us exactly why they were attacking the Capitol, on multiple social media platforms, as they were doing it: they were trying to invalidate the results of a democratic election through violence so that Trump could remain president.

Although a lot more detail would come out following the riot, by January 7, anyone who hadnt spent the past four years learning to ignore what their eyes and ears were telling them in favor of whatever spewed out of Trumps mouth knew the essential elements of the situation. As for everyone else, well, if watching the Capitol insurrection itself didnt snap them back into reality, it is difficult to imagine what could.

Which is why I didnt have high hopes for the investigatory committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and the public hearings about January 6 that we are now in the midst of. A great many things have happened since 2016 which I would think would have been more effective at dislodging a reflexive defense of Trump as a personality trait.

Im starting to come around though. It doesnt hurt that the hearings are being conducted skillfully.

Maybe the January 6 hearings dont really have to change any minds or even tantalizingly dangle the prospect of further criminal proceedings to have an important impact. Perhaps these hearings will give everyone else social permission to shame Trump-loving holdouts into silence.

Trump has turned ambiguity into an art form. He vomits a bunch of vague insinuations from which we can all gather what he really means but which also leave him enough room to backpedal and claim bias and misinterpretation as needed.

The January 6 committee hearings, however, are discrediting Trump using sworn testimony of those closest to him. The first hearing revealed videotaped deposition testimony of Ivanka Trump, his own daughter, who was with him in the White House on January 6. Ivanka testified that she accepted the fact that her father lost and that there had been no fraud which could have overturned the election of Joe Biden. Trump responded to his daughters sworn testimony a day after it was released (on his sad Twitter knockoff Truth Social) in his roundabout strategically ambiguous way, by more or less calling her an ignorant liar.

We were also treated to taped testimony from Trumps pet attorney general, Bill Barr. Bar testified that he told Trump that the latters claim of massive election fraud was complete nonsense. Under oath, Barr said he told the president that his false claims about the 2020 election being stolen were bullshit. Following the release of this testimony, Trump lashed out at Barr (who, remember, he appointed) by calling him weak and frightened and by doubling down on those false claims of election fraud that have now been smacked down by dozens of courts across the country.

Trump apparently said to a number of his staff who were with him on January 6 that his supporters who were chanting Hang Mike Pence had the right idea, and that Pence deserved it for failing to support Trumps bogus election lies. Trump now says this is FAKE NEWS.

Trump has gotten a ton of mileage out of the fake news phrase since he appropriated it to refer to anything unfavorable. But videotaped testimony offered under penalty of perjury from your own family members, supporters, and appointees is not even news. Thats primary source material.

There is no spin on just rolling the tape. Anyone who brushes off what is being said under oath by Trumps own inner circle as fake news is an idiot.

These hearings might not change any minds. The January 6 hearings will still be a win though if they can get people who continue to believe Trumps bullshit to feel a little shame about openly admitting it. Even if these people dont have the capacity to understand that Trump is lying, everyone else sure does.

Jonathan Wolf is a civil litigator and author ofYour Debt-Free JD (affiliate link). He has taught legal writing, written for a wide variety of publications, and made it both his business and his pleasure to be financially and scientifically literate. Any views he expresses are probably pure gold, but are nonetheless solely his own and should not be attributed to any organization with which he is affiliated. He wouldnt want to share the credit anyway. He can be reached atjon_wolf@hotmail.com.

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Testimony Of Trump's Own Appointees, Family Members, Is 'Fake News' Only To Very Stupid People - Above the Law

'Fake news': Twitter trolls economist Steve Hanke after he says BJP office in Bihar torched in protest of rising poverty | Video Screengrab

Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics at the Johns Hopkins University, recently took to Twitter and tweeted a video of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Bihar's Madhepura. The double-storey office was set on fire during the protests against the Agnipath military recruitment scheme. However, the economist claimed the office was set ablaze in protest of "rising poverty and an inability to buy food in PM Modi's reign".

Taking to Twitter, Hanke wrote, "Demonstrators in Bihar, India have torched the BJPs office in protest of rising poverty and an inability to buy food under PM Modis reign."

Meanwhile, Twitter users trolled the economist over the fake claim.

"Hullo 'Economist' Ji @JohnsHopkins, Food is free for nearly three quarters of India's citizenry by way of free ration provided by PM @narendramodi. Poverty has declined 12.3 % points in Modi era (per World Bank). India is fastest growing economy. PS: Sri Lanka is not in Bihar (sic)," a Twitter user wrote.

"Probably this fake news economist doesnt know that Modi govt has been giving FREE RATION every month to 80 million people in India since Covid times (sic)," wrote another Twitter user.

Check out a few tweets below:

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Fake news: Twitter trolls economist Steve Hanke after he says BJP office in Bihar torched in protest of - Free Press Journal

Teel off the mark on Brunswick student protest criticism

On June 8, The Times Record ran a story about the Brunswick Junior High School student walk-out protesting in-school gun violence against children (Uvalde school massacre prompts Brunswick Junior High gun violence protest). A Republican candidate for the Maine Senate, Brogan Teel, claimed the event was political and organized by a partisan progressive group, and not a good look for Brunswick. Can we talk?

If the walk-out was political, it was legitimately so. It was a protest to encourage legislative change regarding guns, a peaceable assembly protected under the First Amendment. The school administration did not sponsor or organize the walk-out; students were the driving force. The administrators attended to assure student safety.

If Im an eighth-grader and I hear/read about Uvalde (or Columbine or Sandy Hook or Parkland or), where students are gunned down in schools, I cant help but be partisan an adherent to the cause of preventing further such events. To be otherwise would ignore the undeniable reality in this country.

In the current political environment, the term progressive has lost its meaning. For some Republicans, any politician to the left of Attila the Hun qualifies. That students, an at-risk population, desire a change in current gun laws (which facilitate mass shootings) seems pretty middle-of-the-road to me.

If the Republican Teel supports the currrent interpretation of the (ambiguous) 2nd Amendment, she supports the status quo which enables these atrocities. I dont think she belongs in the Maine Senate. And if she is enraged by peaceable protest organized by eighth-graders, she needs to read the Constitution with all of its Amendments.

Steven ZimmermanTopsham

Action needed to curb gun deaths in America

I was appalled to read of Mr. Teels remarks that demonstrating for an end to gun violence is a partisan issue (Uvalde school massacre prompts Brunswick Junior High gun violence protest). Since when is wanting to be safe, to live without fear, partisan? I applaud these students for speaking up, as we adults have basically done nothing to curb the epidemic of gun violence and mass shootings we have in this country. Gun violence is the No. 1 cause of death for American children and teens with more than 4,300 killed with guns every year. A total of 40,620 people are killed by gun violence in an average year a shocking average of 110 people every day. Americans are 26 times more likely to be killed by guns than those from other high-income countries.

We need thoughts and prayers but we also need action. Lets try some actions and see how they help. Lets ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, increase the age to buy a gun, enhance background checks, and institute red flag laws on the federal level. We should also ask the CDC to research gun violence and its causes and possible solutions, and fully fund that effort. Doing nothing in the face of all this violence is immoral. Putting limits on gun ownership does not mean everyones gun will be taken away far from it. But some use this idea to reject any laws on gun ownership and offer no solutions to the problem.

We also need to address what is behind this epidemic. There are many causes that need to be looked at so we can figure out how to help. Many of the mass shootings are linked to young men radicalized by the white power/white supremacy movement. Listening to some of the spokesmen for these groups makes me feel sick and frightened, especially for any person of color and our children, as well as anyone who might cross them. For some of our politicians to say the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol was just legitimate political discourse and should be forgotten is encouraging this violence. We need to act to save lives! Together!

Nancy Marstaller, Harpswell

Agreed: Conservative voices needed

I enthusiastically applaud Tricia Smiths recent letter to the editor, Times Record needs more conservative voices (June 7).

Yes, more conservative voices, but also more just middle of the road types of opinions, neither liberal nor conservative.

I love the local coverage, and thats why I buy the paper. During the Trump administration, we saw four years of anti-Trump political cartoons, day after day after day.

Take a look around at what else is going on in the world besides what left-leaning liberals are saying.

Paula McKenney,Woolwich

An important article on fake news

Thursdays edition featured an outstanding article in the BoomerTech Adventures column regarding the need for diligence with regard to news and facts (Due diligence and dealing with online fake news and bias, June 7). It listed a variety of sites that can be utilized for checking facts as well as our wonderful local library resources for spotting fake news. Given the amount of fake news perpetrated by friends who are trying to either enlighten or alarm me, it is wonderful to have resources to double-check info. This is one article that should not be buried on the bottom of the last page of the last section of the newspaper. It is a well-written and informative article on resources for people to use to do fact-checking, especially in light of the frequent perpetuation of incorrect fake news.

Darlene Breton,Brunswick

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Letters: Readers sound off on gun violence, conservative voices, fake news article - Press Herald

Maharashtra Cyber Cell Department on Saturday informed that it has registered 600 cases of fake news, rumours or hate speeches in the state in the past one year. Maharashtra Cyber Cell ADG Madhukar Pandey on Saturday told ANI that the state has a 'robust social media monitoring system' to keep an eye on sensitive posts instigating communal tension or Covid-related misinformation.

"We have a robust social media monitoring system where we keep a watch on hate speech, posts disturbing communal harmony, spreading rumours, COVID-related misinformation, etc. In last one year, 600 cases registered regarding fake news, rumours and hate speech over social media in Maharashtra in various units based upon these inputs," he said. According to official data provided by Maharashtra Cyber, in these offences registered, 384 accused have been arrested till now. Out of the total arrested accused, preventive action as per the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is carried out on 145 accused.

Also, so far 138 posts are removed by issuing take-down notices to the social media platforms wherever they are not removed by the posting individual himself. The most common platforms where these types of messages are found or reported to be offensive are WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.

The Cyber department issued a warning to the author of the post and asks the author to take down the relevant post. According to a Cyber Department official, all offensive posts are not of the same gravity.

"So graded action is taken by the cyber department. In most of the cases author of the posts are gone notice to take down their post on their own but in some cases, posts are so offensive and disturbing that directly an FIR is registered. If the posts are not deleted by the author, Department contacts social media companies to take down the offensive posts," the official said. (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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600 cases of fake news, rumours, hate speeches registered in one year in Maharashtra - Devdiscourse

The water collection point in Buffelsfontein Road.

The social media post made by a DA councillor that the taps at the brand new water collection point in Buffelsfontein Road have been stolen, has been dubbed as fake news by the JOC.

DA councillor, Vernon Boggenpoel, posted a picture of the collection point without any taps on Facebook yesterday, June 16, with the caption: "The brass taps at Buffelsfontein and Airport water collection points have already been stolen...who would have thought."

Joint Operations Centre spokesperson, Luvuyo Bangazi, released a media statement following the post and said that it is "disappointing and regrettable that an elected representative of Council is free to share unconfirmed and unsubstantiated fake news about stolen water taps from water collections points currently under construction."

He added that the taps have not been stolen but that the contractors are still working on the site.

Boggenpoel had in the meantime deleted his post and replaced it with the following: "The taps have not been stolen. They are plastic. Incorrect information received. My apologies." Boggenpoel later said that he had received the information from a reputable source but that it was indeed untrue. "I apologise for the mistake. I know now to double check when receiving information that might cause harm or intend to bring negativity in our community," he said.

However, Bangazi said that although the post has since been corrected, the message continues to circulate on community groups across the Bay and beyond. "This act, which sets back the communication efforts of the JOC, done by a member of council, could have been avoided had the councilor sought confirmation from the JOC or the Department of Water and Sanitation. We urge members of the public to be vigilant towards misinformation and fake news during this crunch time. All efforts, by all stakeholders, should be aimed at informing and empowering citizens."

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Taps stolen at brand new water collection point dubbed as 'fake news' - News24

Want to see a picture of Jesus Christ laughing at a meme on his phone, Donald Trump as the Nevermind baby, or Karl Marx being slimed at the Nikelodeon Kids Choice awards?

If youve been on Twitter or Instagram in the past couple of weeks, its been hard to miss odd-looking formulations of these kinds of scenarios in the form of AI art.

DALL-E (and DALL-E mini), the creator of these artworks, is a neural network that can take a text phrase and transform it an image. It was trained by looking at millions of images on the internet along with accompanying text and it learned to create pictures of things youd never expect to be combined, such as an avocado armchair.

Text to image technology is proceeding at a rapid pace, and the full DALL-E model is able to produce scarily clear images based on the input you provide, while the mini version is still clunky enough to capture the weird internet style that makes them instantly meme-able. The best examples of that can be found on the r/weirddalle subreddit.

But experts say the technology poses ethical challenges.

Prof Toby Walsh, AI researcher and author of a book on the morality of AI, says the kind of technology that powers DALL-E makes it easier to create fake images.

We are seeing deep fakes being used all the time, and the technology is going to allow still images, but ultimately also video images, to be synthesised [more easily] by bad actors, he says.

DALL-E has content policy rules in place that prohibit bullying, harassment, the creation of sexual or political content, or creating images of people without their consent. And while Open AI has limited the number of people who can sign up to DALL-E, its lower-grade replica, DALL-E mini, is open access, meaning people can produce anything they want.

Its going to be very hard to ensure that people dont use them to make images that people find offensive, Walsh says.

Dr Oliver Bown , a researcher in computational creativity at the University of New South Wales, says the nature of the neural networks in the AI makes it difficult to prevent DALL-E from creating offensive imagery, but it is possible to prevent the person requesting the image from accessing and sharing it.

You can obviously just have a filter at the end that that sort of tries to filter out things that are bad.

Walsh says in addition to regulatory framework and company policies around the use of the technology, the public also needs to be educated to be more discerning about what they are seeing online.

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If I got [an image] off the BBC website, the Guardian website, I hope theyve done their homework and I could be a bit more trusting than if I got it off Twitter. [In that case] I ask all the questions as to [whether this is] a bit of fake content or not.

The other major ethical issue Walsh sees coming is the potential for text-to-image AI to replace jobs in graphic design.

You can imagine that more of us are going to be able to do graphic design because we could say paint me a picture with the specification when we want, and well get that picture. Whereas previously, there was a graphic designer who produced that picture, he says.

Graphic design isnt going to go away, it will lead to even more graphic design because all of us can access these tools, but graphic designers might have less work themselves.

But Bown says this new technology will also allow for prompt creativity, meaning the thought that goes into the image request will lead to more creativity.

This new challenge is on for creative people to think about what they want to put into a system like this, he says.

The clunky look of DALL-E mini image generations is also becoming an internet art form of its own, Bown says.

I can imagine that this would just be huge for something like Instagram or just direct messaging with your mates when youre trying to send memes.

Therell be all kinds of crazy subcultures of image generation. So if it produces these kind of hazy, slightly mangled images with peoples arms in the wrong places, thats OK, we just get used to that aesthetic.

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From Trump Nevermind babies to deep fakes: DALL-E and the ethics of AI art - The Guardian

security agencies need to re-strategise their efforts by partnering with NITDA and indigenous innovators to develop technological solutions to aid intelligence gathering and detection of fake news sources. The scourge of fake news and its attendant consequences should be tackled head-on to ensure the peaceful co-existence of all.

The rise of social media has offered numerous advantages, including the ability to make money, networking, and developing professionalism by breaking barriers, creating content, business growth, and other opportunities.

For these reasons, people around the globe have leveraged social media platforms as the most pervasive technological development in the world. Given the ease of citizen engagement, social media platforms have offered increased access to citizen participation.

Unfortunately, social media is also used for the spread of fake news and hate speech.

Fake news refers to the deliberate propagation of false information with the intent of causing harm to a persons reputation, manipulating peoples perception of real facts, inciting the populace against the government, and most disturbingly, causing mayhem in society.

There are numerous instances in which some netizens (users of the internet) have used social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram to cultivate disreputable means of gaining clout by fabricating stories without verifiable sources or facts. Sometimes these stories are propaganda by users with ill intentions or satirists mischievously creating disruptions to mislead the reader and serve selfish reasons that could be detrimental to society.

The first social media uproar that generated a massive wave of fake news was the #EndSARS protest in October 2020. This witnessed a mass movement of Nigerian youths online and street protests generating about 28 million tweets within a week. The protest erupted following weeks of outrage and anger with videos and pictures showing police brutality, harassment, and extortion in Nigeria.

It started as a peaceful protest but turned violent due to fake news that threw the nation into a state of anarchy.

Although evidence of abuse by SARS personnel surfaced, a variety of misleading information was also spread via social media platforms and other means by some sections of the masses that were angry and obsessed with provoking crisis using such incidents as a trigger.

The voluminous rumours spread in the heat of the #EndSARS protest prompted award-winning journalist and media strategist, Mohammed Dahiru Lawal, to compile the book titled 101 Fake News on EndSARSto inform the public on how social media fake news can turn peaceful protests into a national crisis.

The arrest of protesters in Abuja was debunked by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Commissioner of Police Bala Chiroma, also the rumour of a Katsina woman protesting against SARS, and most disturbing the alleged killing of a young man in Ughelli by SARS, which triggered the EndSARS protests across the nation, were all discovered to be fake news by persons and groups that manipulated images for ulterior motives.

For instance, the death of Oke Obi-Enadhuze, said to be killed by a policeman was debunked by his brother who clarified that he (the victim) was attacked by thugs. The arrest of protesters in Abuja was debunked by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Commissioner of Police Bala Chiroma, also the rumour of a Katsina woman protesting against SARS, and most disturbing the alleged killing of a young man in Ughelli by SARS, which triggered the EndSARS protests across the nation, were all discovered to be fake news by persons and groups that manipulated images for ulterior motives.

The recent condemnable jungle justice meted on Deborah Samuel, the 200-level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto over a blasphemous statement made via her WhatsApp group chat was another violent incident that engulfed the social media.

While blasphemous statements are disrespectful, offensive, inciteful, provocative, and frowned upon in every religion, it is also prudent to seek the advice of legal counsel in protesting this, instead of resorting to jungle justice.

However, the increasing incidence of fake news has triggered many reactions and could have triggered another wave of antagonism and mayhem throughout the nation.

Still grappling with calming angry youths in the heart of Sokoto, it became a challenge for some media outlets like PRNigeria to ensure that fake news does not have a say in propagating more religious violence that could affect law and order in state affairs.

According to a PRNigeria report on fake news, one of the false reports was shared by the Catholic Broadcast Commission Nigeria on its Facebook page, which has over 90,000 followers. The CBCN posted a story that the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukahs house was set ablaze by rioters.

The post read: Carnage in Sokoto today: Aftermath of violent protest in Sokoto today. Holy Family Catholic Cathedral, Bishop Kukahs house, and Catholic Pastoral Centre which were built with over N1 billion have been burnt down by hoodlums who are protesting the arrest of those who murdered Miss Deborah Yakubu.

However, Bishop Kukah debunked the claim, stating that no life was lost in the said riot. According to him, Contrary to information in circulation, we wish to disclaim that there was no attack of any sort on the residence of Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah.

Although detecting fake news remains a challenge, considering the time factor, labour, logistics, and technological resources, it is necessary to curtail its spread before it causes more carnage to lives and national development.

Meanwhile, there was another case of a trending video that claimed that Northerners were attacking Southerners living in those parts of the country.

But PRNigerias analysis of the comments and reactions under the post indicated that the claim was not accurate. Some responses to the tweet claimed that it was an old video of a suspected child trafficker who was arrested for abducting a child.

Beyond the fake news, the medium further noted that the attendant reactions are contributing to the hate speech that is further enraging already frayed nerves. Those expressing contrary views are being disparaged, threatened, or attacked.

Fake news peddlers creating parody accounts on social media during periods of crises is another warning to Nigerians. These social media accounts are often generated by ill-minded people who are impersonating high-profile personalities to take advantage of the situation to direct traffic to their blogs and incite crises for selfish motives.

Although detecting fake news remains a challenge, considering the time factor, labour, logistics, and technological resources, it is necessary to curtail its spread before it causes more carnage to lives and national development.

Thus, the exceptional works by other media platforms to curb the spread of fake news through fact-checking are commendable and should be sustained to foster peace and unity in the country.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) through its subsidiary the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, can help to develop more simplified and user-friendly fact-checking tools to enable people to detect or verify information broadcast over social media and traditional media. Also, it can utilise artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to identify and block fake or parody accounts on social media.

In addition, security agencies need to re-strategise their efforts by partnering with NITDA and indigenous innovators to develop technological solutions to aid intelligence gathering and detection of fake news sources. The scourge of fake news and its attendant consequences should be tackled head-on to ensure the peaceful co-existence of all.

Zeenat o. Sambo writes from Abuja; Zeenatsambo@yahoo.com.

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Curbing fake news and the excesses of social media, By Zeenat O. Sambo - Premium Times

Fake News, Internet Propaganda, and Philippine elections: 2016 to 2019 is a study presented in a#FactsFirstPHresearch briefing held on May 04, 2022. The full copy of the research is reposted with permissionfrom the authors.

This is Part 2 of a two-part paper on fake news and internet propaganda in the last 3 election cycles, including the upcoming 2022 general elections, which is the focus of this article. The full copy of the research is reposted with permissionfrom the authors.

Part 1: [ANALYSIS] Fake news, internet propaganda, and Philippine elections: 2016 to 2019

***

We found that fake news, though not new in Philippine elections, has its modern form rooted in the 2016 and 2019 elections. Between October 2018 and May 2019, Rappler reviewed 135 claims, 73 of which were rated as false, 40 as hoaxes, and 19 as misleading claims. These claims had accumulated a total of 4.36 million interactions, from which we argued that as many as 1.45 million people may have been exposed to fake news. Political claims dominated the shares of claims by typology, while Duterte was found to be the top topic or specific theme in the claims, joined by Noynoy Aquino, Otso Diretso, and Leni Robredo, among others in the top 10.

Finally, we found that fake news and misinformation had been effective for those favored candidates with strong social media presence. Now one would wonder how it would be in these upcoming 2022 national and local elections. Of note is the race for the presidency of the Philippines, where Vice President Leni Robredo and former Senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. are in a high stakes rematch from their 2016 vice presidential match.

We ended Part 1 in a bit of a cliffhanger, where we wondered how fake news would play out in the upcoming 2022 national and local elections, which would include elections for president and vice president of the Philippines.

Here in Part 2, we explore how fake news and internet propaganda looks like in the upcoming 2022 elections. We note how much different and similar 2022 is with 2019. We also take note of the historical background of the upcoming elections, especially in terms of the election for the Philippine presidency.

As noted earlier, the presidential race is a rematch, perhaps even a grudge match, between the two leading candidates as of the recent surveys: Marcos and Robredo.Robredo defeated Marcos in the 2016 vice presidential elections. The latter protested the result of the elections, and the Supreme Court, functioning as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, eventually dismissed the cases in a unanimous decision.

These upcoming elections are also said to be high stakes. Bongbong, son of the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, has been in the forefront of his familys attempts to revise history and reclaim the presidency of the Philippines for their family.

In 2019, it was found that a significant part of this attempt was the use of social media, particularly fake news and internet propaganda sent through coordinated amplification and their extensive network of anonymously managed pages and profiles.

Meanwhile, Robredo decided to run for the presidency as a response to the clamor of her supporters and her own conviction to end the incompetence, corruption, and culture of violence that had persisted under the Duterte regime. This was further prompted by the endorsement of the 1Sambayan opposition coalition, which moved to oppose President Rodrigo Duterte and his endorsed successor.

To measure the prevalence of fake news and their major themes during and around the 2022 election season, and to be as consistent with our earlier analysis as possible, we looked at Rapplers Fact Check articles published between October 2021 and March 2022.

The selected time similarly covered the months from the filing of candidacy to the campaign period of the 2022 elections. Furthermore, the currently available data ends on March 31, 2022, as of this writing.

To measure prevalence, interactions, or the sum of available likes, reactions, shares, retweets, views, and comments in each claim or article were used. For prevailing themes, keywords were considered. Note again that what would be recorded would be data from the time of the publication of the Rappler articles.

Looking at the current data, it would be rather obvious that fake news and internet propaganda have been stronger and more active than ever. Rappler studied 256 claims from October 2021 to March 2022. Of these claims, 207 of them were falsehoods, while 39 missed the contexts and nuances of their claims.

Facebook remained the top social media platform for misinformation, with 207 claims posted in the site, but it was now joined by YouTube and TikTok, which had 24 and 20 claims, respectively. Collectively, the claims garnered a total of about 67.48 million interactions. This was more than 15 times the interactions in the 2019 elections. Likewise, based on our estimation methodology, where we assume that interactions were divided equally between likes/reactions, shares/retweets/views, and comments, we can say that as much as 22.49 million people had been exposed to fake news.

Unsurprisingly, politics dominated the major themes, with 179 out of the 256 claims covered by Rappler and this study. Interestingly, besides the increase in the absolute number of claims, political claims experienced a 15.11% increase in their share of claims from 2019. These increases could be attributed to the time, the type of election, and the stakes involved.

Meanwhile, military and medical claims ranked next to political ones in terms of interactions, but this was expected as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic contributed much to the military and medical claims, respectively.

Moving now to the specific themes or topics, the 2022 elections, by itself, gained the greatest number of claims and interactions during the selected time. The next two topics were the two main presidential candidates, Robredo and Marcos. Looking at the tabulation alone may give the impression that Robredo had benefited more from fake news.

However, this is far from the truth, as virtually all the claims regarding Robredo were against her from accusations of bad campaign behavior to supposed support from communists. Meanwhile, those false claims regarding Marcos almost always painted him in a more positive light, such as claims on supposed wealth and academic achievement. This was further supported by the presence of false claims regarding his father, the late dictator Ferdinand, with such a range of claims as purported political and economic achievements during his regime.

Zooming in to the top individual claims by interactions, we found falsehoods on the Russia-Ukraine conflict occupying the top two spots, with the top claim garnering more than 8.7 million aggregate interactions. The next two spots were medical claims and, interestingly, neither were directly involved with the COVID-19 pandemic. The 5th placer claim was regarding Robredos supposed statements on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Although arguably classifiable as political because it involved Robredos name, it was classified under military since it pertained to an actual conflict.

Filtering then to focus on political claims, and the picture indicated a virtual clear focus on the upcoming elections, or at least the important actors therein. The Top 5 claims ranged from campaign chants supposedly present in a K-pop concert to one candidates failure to recall her first bill in Congress.

These claims might influence the upcoming elections. Ever since surveys began for the 2022 presidential elections, Marcos has consistently led surveys, even getting majorities in the latest Pulse Asia survey results, for example.

This is a clear indication that a Marcos Jr. presidency is possible, perhaps arguably highly probable. It has been argued that such a presidency would result in an authoritarian government that follows Dutertes template. Robredo, meanwhile, can be seen as being pincered in the internet campaigning and propaganda front. Not only were false claims in favor of Marcos effective, so were those against her.

Beyond the current elections, things look rather bleak. The current landscape of fake news and internet propaganda in the Philippines paints the country more and more as increasingly vulnerable to, and more easily persuaded by, fake news.

At the most pessimistic, the Philippines would slide to full blown authoritarianism fueled not by fear and force, but by lies and deceit. Politicians, especially the would-be incumbents in power, would have the license to lie, cheat, and steal not through coercion, but rather through unwitting consent as people would blindly and unquestioningly believe whatever these politicians would say despite how little truth there is. They can then sway the people to produce more falsehoods for them to either drum up support to otherwise unpopular policies, destroy or silence opponents, or even both.

The experience in the United States can also be a clue in an equally disturbing possibility: a nation fully partisan and bitterly divided, something that could be worse here due to the fragility of our institutions.

This is certainly not new. How many fell for the fascists and Nazis in Europe and Asia before and during the Second World War? What is novel and frightening however is the speed by which lies are made and propagated, and how fast the unwitting consent is formed and given. With the Filipinos penchant for social media immersion, this becomes more concerning.

So how do we stop fake news from affecting our democracy? Social media platforms, news media, and other fact-checking organizations have already gone as far as they can, but more work must be done. There are several public actions suggested, such as the mobilization of fandoms and their celebrities against disinformation.

But the first and most basic step is education not just for us, but for others as well. There is the need to learn and teach how to discern and think about what is being read or viewed, and check for other sources for confirmation. It is hoped that by our individual and collective efforts, truth would prevail. Rappler.com

Gerardo V. Eusebio has had extensive experience in public service, consultancy work, and academia. He has served in both the legislative and executive branches of government. He is currently the head of political marketing at Warwick and Roger and board director of Lilac Center for Public Interest and has been teaching political science, development, and history at various Philippine universities since 1992.

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[ANALYSIS] Fake news and internet propaganda, and the Philippine elections: 2022 - Rappler

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis said on Wednesday that Catholics today are living in an age of fake news, collective superstitions, and pseudo-scientific truths.

Reflecting on the Book of Ecclesiastes at his general audience on May 25, the Pope suggested that the 21st century was marked not only by scientific knowledge but also what he called a cultured witchcraft.

It is no coincidence that ours is the age of fake news, collective superstitions, and pseudo-scientific truths, he said.

Speaking off the cuff, he went on: Its curious: in this culture of knowledge, of knowing everything, even of the precision of knowledge, a lot of witchcraft has spread, but cultured witchcraft.

It is witchcraft with a certain culture but that leads you to a life of superstition: on the one hand, to go forward with intelligence in knowing things down to the roots; on the other hand, the soul that needs something else and takes the path of superstitions, and ends up in witchcraft.

The Pope used the Italian word stregoneria, which can be translated as witchcraft, sorcery, or black magic.

Pope Francis general audience in St. Peters Square, May 25, 2022. Daniel Ibez/CNA.

The Popes live-streamed catechesis was the 11th in a cycle on old age that he began in February. He entered St. Peters Square in a white jeep, stopping to invite children in brightly colored clothes to join him for part of his journey among the pilgrims.

The jeep drove up to a raised platform in front of St. Peters Basilica, where the 85-year-old was helped to exit the vehicle and walk up to the white chair where he gave his address. The Pope, who has made public appearances in a wheelchair since May 5 due to knee pain, used a walking stick.

In his reflection, Pope Francis focused on the famous refrain in Ecclesiastes also known as the Book of Qoheleth that everything is vanity.

It is surprising to find in Holy Scripture these expressions that question the meaning of existence, he said. In reality, Qoheleths continuous vacillation between sense and non-sense is the ironic representation of an awareness of life that is detached from the passion for justice, of which Gods judgment is the guarantor.

And the books conclusion points the way out of the trial: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man (12:13). This is the advice to resolve this problem.

Pope Francis said that old age brought the challenge of disenchantment, which had to be resisted because of its demoralizing effects.

If the elderly, who have seen it all by that time, keep intact their passion for justice, then there is hope for love, and also for faith, he said.

And for the contemporary world, the passage through this crisis, a healthy crisis, has become crucial. Why? Because a culture that presumes to measure everything and manipulate everything also ends up producing a collective demoralization of meaning, a demoralization of love, a demoralization of goodness.

The Pope said that collective demoralization sapped humanitys will to act.

In this form cloaked in the trappings of science, but also very insensitive and very amoral the modern quest for truth has been tempted to take leave of its passion for justice altogether. It no longer believes in its destiny, its promise, its redemption, he commented.

For our modern culture, which would like, in practice, to consign everything to the exact knowledge of things, the appearance of this new cynical reason that combines knowledge and irresponsibility is a harsh repercussion.

Indeed, the knowledge that exempts us from morality seems at first to be a source of freedom, of energy, but soon turns into a paralysis of the soul.

Pope Francis said that the Book of Ecclesiastes captured this dynamic, in which an omnipotence of knowledge leads to an impotence of the will.

He noted that the early Church described this condition as acedia, which he said was not simply laziness or depression, but the surrender to knowledge of the world devoid of any passion for justice and consequent action.

He said: The emptiness of meaning and lack of strength opened up by this knowledge, which rejects any ethical responsibility and any affection for the real good, is not harmless.

It not only takes away the strength for the desire for the good: by counterreaction, it opens the door to the aggressiveness of the forces of evil.

These are the forces of reason gone mad, made cynical by an excess of ideology.

The Pope noted that weariness was a hallmark of contemporary society.

We were supposed to have produced widespread well-being and we tolerate a market that is scientifically selective with regard to health, he said.

We were supposed to have put an insuperable threshold for peace, and we see more and more ruthless wars against defenseless people.

Science advances, of course, and that is good. But the wisdom of life is something else entirely, and it seems to be stalled.

Concluding his address, Pope Francis urged the elderly to help combat demoralization.

They will be the ones to sow the hunger and thirst for justice in the young, he said.

Take courage, all of us older people! Take courage and go forward! We have a very great mission in the world.

But, please, we must not seek refuge in this somewhat non-concrete, unreal, rootless idealism let us speak clearly in the witchcraft of life.

A summary of the Popes catechesis was then read out in seven languages.

Addressing English-speaking Catholics, he said: I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in todays Audience, especially those from Nigeria, Lebanon, and the United States of America.

In the joy of the Risen Christ, I invoke upon you and your families the loving mercy of God our Father. May the Lord bless you!

In his closing remarks, Pope Francis lamented a school shooting in Texas.

A gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, southwest Texas, on May 24, killing at least 19 children and two adults.

The Pope said: My heart is broken for the massacre at the elementary school in Texas. I am praying for the children and the adults killed and their families.

It is time to say enough to the indiscriminate trafficking of weapons. Let us all work hard so that such tragedies can never happen again.

His words were greeted with applause by pilgrims.

Originally posted here:

Pope Francis: Ours is the Age of Fake News, Collective Superstitions, and Pseudo-Scientific Truths - National Catholic Register

It was a Florida law so what do you expect?

A Florida law intended to punish social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter for not treating the words of right-wing politicians as if they were spoken by Jesus has been ruled unconstitutional.

GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis was apparently miffed that conservative politicians were not allowed to say what they like on social media and were being asked to prove their claims before opening their mouths.

A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously concluded that it was overreach for DeSantis and the Republican-led Florida Legislature to tell the social media companies how to conduct their work under the Constitution's free speech guarantee.

"Put simply, with minor exceptions, the government can't tell a private person or entity what to say or how to say it," said Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom.

Newsom should have been a little bit sympathetic to the law he was an appointee of former President Donald Trump. However, it would appear that in the US, company rights are even more important than those of right-wing politicians.

Newsom wrote: "We hold that it is substantially likely that social media companies -- even the biggest ones -- are private actors whose rights the First Amendment protects."

The ruling upholds a similar decision by a Florida federal district judge on the law, which was signed by DeSantis in 2021.

It was part of an overall conservative effort to portray social media companies as communists who were and hostile to right-wing ideas.

Florida has had some bizarre laws which managed to get through. In Florida it is illegal to:

1. Shower naked.

2. Live with a person of the opposite sex who is not a family member.

3. Sing in a swimsuit

4. Imitate the sound of a wild animal

5. Roll a barrel down the street.

6.Hang your clothes on a clothesline.

7.Eat cottage cheese after 6pm on Sundays

If you steal a horse in Florida you can still be hanged for it.

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Move to turn Facebook and Twitter into right-wing fake news outfits unconstitutional - Fudzilla