Category Archives: Fake News

New research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science suggests that intellectual humility is a trait that may protect against misinformation in the media or fake news. A series of studies found that people with greater intellectual humility were consistently more inclined to investigate fake claims about COVID-19.

There has been great concern over the massive amount of misinformation that has circulated since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. This false information includes conspiracy theories regarding the origin of the virus and misleading claims that downplay the seriousness of the pandemic. The media, scholars, and world leaders alike have discussed the dangers of this misinformation, suggesting that such false claims can reduce adherence to protective behaviors and further the spread of the virus.

A research team led by Jonah Koetke proposed that when faced with questionable information, there are certain actions that people can take to evaluate whether the information is reliable or not, such as fact-checking a news article or seeking alternative sources of information. They call these actions investigative behaviors and propose that the tendency to engage in these behaviors depends on a persons characteristics and specifically, their intellectual humility.

We were interested in this topic for two reasons. First, we were interested because misinformation about COVID-19 is such a pressing and dangerous issue. We thought it critical to research ways to mitigate the harmful effects of this misinformation. Second, from a theory perspective, we were interested in finding what predicts engaging in the sorts of behaviors that can protect people from misinformation, said Koetke, a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh.

Intellectual humility refers to the ability to recognize ones own intellectual shortcomings and to accept the possibility of being wrong. People with strong intellectual humility tend to be more motivated to seek knowledge and better able to distinguish the difference between a strong and a weak argument. Among three separate American samples, Koetke and colleagues explored whether individuals with greater intellectual humility would be more willing to scrutinize COVID-19 misinformation.

An initial study presented participants with two real news headlines related to COVID-19 and two fake news headlines related to COVID-19. Participants were asked how likely they would be to fact-check the headline, look into the article source, seek alternative opinions, or read the full article. The researchers found that people with greater intellectual humility were more likely to engage in these investigative behaviors in response to the fake news headlines but not more likely to investigate the real news headlines. Koetke and colleagues say that this suggests that intellectual humility is only relevant when it comes to investigating questionable information that seems misaligned with reputable knowledge.

Two additional studies replicated these effects. Importantly, the third study looked at real behavior rather than self-reported intentions. Respondents were shown two fake news headlines downplaying the importance of wearing a mask to prevent the spread of the virus. For each headline, they were offered the opportunity to open a new tab and search for more information about the article. In line with the previous studies, respondents with greater humility were significantly more likely to investigate the fake news articles by opting to search for more information online.

Importantly, in all three studies, the researchers controlled for a series of variables that may affect a persons interpretation of fake news such as analytic thinking, education, and familiarity with the article and the effects of intellectual humility remained significant.

The take-away from our paper is that it is important to be humble in our own knowledge when encountering misinformation. In our studies, we found that those with higher levels of intellectual humility, or those willing to admit that what they think and believe may be fallible, were more motivated to engage in investigating misinformation and seeking out evidence and facts, Koetke told PsyPost.

The researchers say that their findings suggest that while people who are high in intellectual humility are open to new perspectives, they will not unselectively endorse any view that they come across. Rather, the study authors note, they want their beliefs to be based on solid evidence and therefore behave accordingly, investigating the validity of information so they can ultimately reject false claims. These findings thus suggest that intellectual humility may provide some of the motivation behind engaging in behaviors that fight against misinformation.

One limitation to the current research was that the studies did not assess whether the use of investigative behaviors was actually helpful in evaluating misinformation, and the authors suggest that future studies should explore this. They acknowledge that its possible that looking into false claims could backfire by leading people to feel overly convinced about a claim after taking investigative actions to examine its source.

The major caveat for our paper is that the findings were correlational. Future work should focus on manipulating intellectual humility to determine causation, Koetke said.

The study, Intellectual Humility Predicts Scrutiny of COVID-19 Misinformation, was authored by Jonah Koetke, Karina Schumann, and Tenelle Porter.

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People with greater intellectual humility show greater scrutiny toward fake news about the coronavirus - PsyPost

The 21st century has set the premise for todays disruptive digital economy, where creating and broadcasting digital content has become commonplace thanks to mobile devices and social platforms, created and published at a large scale. But the accessibility to create and share information online has surfaced a new problem of fake news and misinformation, making it difficult to filter what is real news.

With ongoing advances in technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), digital animations, and social engineering, the line between fake and authentic content is only going to blur even more. It will take the disruptive capabilities of another technology, using a solution that produces immutable, irrefutable, and wholly transparent results, and that is blockchain technology.

In fact, as blockchain gains credibility, it is being piloted for uses never before considered. Groups, as varied as newsrooms, nonprofits, major corporations, and start-ups, are all eagerly pursuing the technology to create distributed, transparent networks for reliable media and digital information.

The main issue about fake news is the rapid speed with which it disseminates. While false information has always existed, the internet makes it worse every year. The high speed of fake news sharing has the potential to directly affect public relations and have serious political and economic consequences that are sometimes difficult to predict.

For decades, manual fact-checking was the way to go, before technologies for fighting fake news, like automated source finding, or an anti-plagiarism system came about. Then came projects and studies on using various machine learning and natural language processing techniques to identify inaccurate information. These projects are most often based on stylistic analysis of text, using a model that has been trained on fake-news text examples. Nonetheless, there are also limitations here, such as the collection and markup of the database, as it is a very time-consuming process.

However, there are examples of successful projects, such as when Twitter acquired a British artificial intelligence-based startup to help it combat the amount of fake news being spread on its platform. While blockchain, a relatively new technology, wont necessarily stop people from posting false information, it could, at minimum, foster a new sense of trust in what they see online by making it easier to track and verify. Such efforts could also encourage the public to exercise a healthier skepticism of online media overall.

Blockchain, otherwise known as a distributed ledger system, involves not only the secure storage of data and the use of cryptographic encryption, but it will also be impossible to make arbitrary changes. Smart contracts store text, images/videos, and their sources on a blockchain. Anything that goes into the registry will have source data, namely who posted a particular news item whether it be an article, photo, or video and who the source is of a particular quote. This is relevant, for example, for news agencies or government press releases whose information may be distorted when disseminated by other media.

Though its at a very nascent stage, according to a recent report from Gartner, Predicts 2020: Blockchain Technology, by 2023, up to 30% of world news and video content will be authenticated as real by blockchain ledgers, countering Deep Fake technology. Gartner also stated that The New York Times is one of the first major news publications to test blockchain in authenticating news photographs and video content.

The newspapers Research and Development team and IBM have partnered on the News Provenance Project, which uses Hyperledger Fabrics permissioned blockchain to store contextual metadata. That metadata includes when and where a photo or video was shot, who took it, and how and when it was edited and published.

That said, with the help of blockchain platforms, news sites can increase their transparency, and getting to the source of misinformation will become much easier and faster. Not only will this help another end-user verify the information, but it will also provide evidence of the metadata collected at each stage.

Read more:

Here's how blockchain will combat the plague of fake news - TechHQ

Joginder Singh Ugrahan, the State General Secretary of BKU Ekta Ugrahan has tested positive for COVID-19.

BKU Ekta Ugrahan took to Twitter and said, He is under treatment and under the continuous observation of doctors. There is no serious harm to his health and not any worrisome situation. According to the doctors he will recover shortly and we will see him again in the field of struggle.

According to a report in Tribune India, Joginder Singh Ugrahan complained of breathlessness and was admitted to the hospital on the 17th of March. The doctors said Ugrahan has responded well to the treatment so far and his condition is quite stable now and likely to be discharged from the hospital in 3-4 days.

Shingara Singh Mann, president of BKU Ekta-Ugrahan, Bathinda, said, Indeed it does affect your movement a bit especially in the absence of a leader of Joginder Ugrahans standing and stature but on the whole, it would not impact the agitation to a large degree. Ugrahans schedule was planned for Punjab and he had been attending meetings and holding rallies in the state since March 12 and was to return to Tikri after March 23. After illness, he had to admit but his condition has improved a lot and there is nothing to worry about now. He will be discharged and after taking rest for a few days, he will rejoin the agitation.

As Joginder Singh Ugrahan tests positive for COVID-19, fears are being raised about the protest rallies becoming yet another superspreader of COVID-19. According to reports, he was attending kisan panchayats at various places and overseeing preparations for Bhagat Singh martyrdom on March 23 and the call for Bharat Bandh on March 26.

He has reportedly been away from the Tikri Border site for the past 1 week, however, one is not sure about his itinerary and where the 75-year-old was just before he tested positive for COVID-19.

Interestingly, while BKU has confirmed now that Joginder Singh Ugrahan has tested positive for COVID-19, only 20 hours ago, the official handle of BKU Ekta Ugrahan had claimed that news about Joginder testing COVID-19 positive was fake news.

A handle called Kadak Samachar took to Twitter to claim that the leader had tested positive, however, he had taken admission in a hospital after concealing his identity, which is against the Epidemic Act.

This tweet was then quoted by the BKU Ekta Ugrahan handle to claim that the news was false and Joginder Singh Ugrahan had indeed not contracted COVID-19.

In fact, the handle Kadak Samachar had also tweeted the COVID-19 positive report of the farmer leader. The report was dated 19th March 2021.

If the COVID-19 positive report was out yesterday itself, one is unaware why BKU lied about the test result yesterday itself.

With the COVID-19 positive cases rises in the country again and the farmer agitation against farm laws that actually benefit the farmers continuing unabated, concerns are being raised about whether the so-called farmers would prove to be another super-spreader since the so-called farmer leader was out and about till he tested positive for COVID-19 and met several people in preparation for further protests.

Concerns are also being raised about why BKU tried to conceal the fact that Joginder Singh Ugrahan had tested positive for Coronavirus. Till the time this report was published, BKU had not issued any clarification about their previous denial and whether Joginder Singh Ugrahan had taken admission into a hospital by giving a fake name and concealing his real identity.

Original post:

20 hours after terming it fake news, BKU Ekta Ugrahan confirms that Joginder Singh Ugrahan tested positive for COVID-19: Here is what happened -...

An archive photo

VERKHNEDVINSK District, 19 March (BelTA) The Information Ministry suggested authorizing the Information Ministry, the General Prosecutor's Office and the Interdepartmental Commission on Information Security under the Security Council of Belarus to disable fake news, Information Minister Igor Lutsky said answering a question from a BelTA reporter during his visit to Verkhnedvinsk District.

Speaking about legislative improvements, the minister noted that amendments to the law on mass media are under discussion. False information is frequently disseminated under the guise of reliable information. Negligent journalists and mass media present it as a common mistake. In fact, this is a purposeful information war against the state. We believe that the available mechanisms to respond to it are insufficient and take too much time. These amendments will allow us to quickly deal with fake and prohibited information, Igor Lutsky said.

He said that the Information Ministry put forward a proposal to allow the Information Ministry to make decisions on blocking prohibited information that is detrimental to the state and public interests. These functions are also to be given to the General Prosecutor's Office and the Interdepartmental Commission on Information Security under the Security Council.

More:

Information minister reveals who will tackle fake news in Belarus - Belarus News (BelTA)

Around 187 million people in southern and eastern India will vote in 824 assembly seats for a month. The voting process will begin by March 27 and the counting will take place on May 2.

UPDATED ON MAR 18, 2021 03:55 PM IST

The central government is working in close cooperation with the Election Commission of India (ECI) to curb fake news designed to influence upcoming Assembly elections in four states and a union territory, Union minister of information and technology Ravi Shankar Prasad informed the Parliament on Thursday. The minister also said that the election regulatory body has set up a dedicated cell to weed out any fake news and media that may influence the polls.

Around 187 million people in southern and eastern India will vote in 824 assembly seats for a month. The voting process will begin by March 27 and the counting will take place on May 2.

Prasad also cited an example of the Cambridge Analytica data mining case and said, "We took a very tough action and the company today has been banned, and a CBI investigation is going on. Therefore, for maintaining the purity of India's electoral process, my government works in close cooperation with EC to ensure that there is no influence of election by fake news."

In 2018, Mark Zuckerberg-owned Facebook said that the data of about 87 million people mostly in the US might have been improperly shared with the British political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica. After the data breach came to the light, the Indian government launched an investigation into the case for allegedly mining the personal data of Indians from Facebook illegally.

Over the last few years, fake news, especially that propagates on social media and messaging platforms, has become a significant problem around the world, especially during the time of election. On March 11, the Election Commission ordered an FIR over "fake news" about EVM hacking attributed to former chief election commissioner T S Krishnamurthy circulated on the internet. It also warned of stern action against the miscreants uploading fake news to create wrong impressions about the election process.

PTI, New Delhi

PUBLISHED ON MAR 17, 2021 09:57 PM IST

The election commission also asked the state government to send a list of names of officers for appointment as IG, South Zone, official sources said.

ANI, New Delhi

PUBLISHED ON MAR 17, 2021 09:33 PM IST

Congress leaders Abdur Rezzak Mollah and Avjit Narjinary will contest from Falta and Kalchini assembly seats respectively.

PTI, Amaravati

PUBLISHED ON MAR 17, 2021 03:57 PM IST

The YSR Congress party won the Tirupati Lok Sabha (Scheduled Caste reserved) seat in 2014 and again in 2019, improving its vote share from 47.84 per cent to 55.03 per cent.

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'Working in close cooperation with EC to curb fake news during election': Ravi Shankar Prasad - Hindustan Times

Rt. Hon. Lord Naseby

Former Chief Justice Silva

Lt. Col. Anton Gash

Mahieash Johnny

Ranjiv Goonawardena of International Consultants who is an aficionado on Sri Lanka, working very closely with the Rt. Hon. Lord Naseby, facilitated the TV program which dropped the bombshell revelation, exposing the United Kingdoms fake allegations made against Sri Lanka with the collusion of the UN Human Rights Council, in collaboration with the Core Group that comprises Canada, Germany, North Macedonia, Malawi, Montenegro and the UK.

By Ranjiv Goonawardena

The trumped-up charges of war crimes were exposed when aired live on television on 18 March in Colombo. The exposure was done by Ada Derana 24 TV on the progam Get Real with Mahieash Johnny, Episode 93, Evidence Exonerating Sri Lanka.

Lord Naseby, an ardent supporter of truth and justice for Sri Lanka; a voice of reasoning in Her Majestys Government in the UK outlined categorically the complicit nature that the UK Government has been concealing information crucial to exonerate Sri Lankan soldiers of heinous war crimes.

It was apparent when Lord Naseby mentioned that an ample amount of evidence was, for unknown reasons, classified and taken out of circulation by the UK Government, and they actively took steps to hide the information in an attempt to sway the investigation by the UNHRC to a political one. The former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka Sarath N. Silva says that the Sri Lankan Government should push much harder for credible evidence from the accusers.

In 2014 Lord Naseby wrote and requested Her Majestys Government to release the diplomatic dispatches of Lt. Col. Anton Gash who was the defence attach at the UK High Commission in Colombo during the conflict period.

They decided maliciously to redact the actual figures which Col. Anton Gash reported back to his superiors, these were the figures of casualties, internally displaced people and most importantly the number of civilian deaths which indicated somewhere around 8,000. At no time was it ever quoted in his report as it has indicated by the bogus number of 40,000 casualties, which has been claimed by the UN Human Rights Council; the fake figures cant be verified and validated.

This has been the campaign slogan of the proxy LTTE groups as they use false figures to campaign. The proxy LTTE has been financially sponsoring politicians in the Western hemisphere including the UK, Canada and America to bring these trumped-up charges against Sri Lanka. It was revealed in the program with the actual documents which are now in the public domain after Lord Nasebys efforts of getting them released but they have been redacted to a very large extent.

Lord Naseby met up with Colonel Anton Gash in Colombo and he was amazed at the revelations which were disclosed to him two fundamental points were disclosed:

1) The care the Sri Lankan armed forces were taking not to kill civilians and the care extended to civilians who were coming onto the Government side during the day and night, were being looked after exceptionally well.

2) This was happening on a regular basis on the ground.

All throughout the process, the UK Government was trying to hinder Lord Nasebys efforts every step of the way. Then eventually Lord Naseby took it up with the final stage of a tribunal in March 2017. According to the UK Government, the reason for the delay was because the OHCAR was making an enquiry and they did not want to influence their findings based on the dispatches of Colonel Gash who was the military attach to the UK Government in Sri Lanka.

Mahieash Johnny was taken by surprise and dumbfounded, he went on to say this is the British Government thats saying apparently they dont want to give the evidence to people who are doing the investigation because apparently the truth will sway the investigation to another direction, so theyre waiting upon till they come up with the version they really want to hear and then they will release it.

More recently Lord Naseby went on to say, I have asked written questions in the House of Lords from Her Majestys Government, if the UK Government has supplied UNHRC with redacted or unredacted information. The answer comes back from Her Majestys Government, no, we havent, as nobody has asked for the information, this is incredible.

Here we are talking about alleged war crimes which will affect individual members of the armed forces of Sri Lanka, men and women who work to keep peace and law and order; this is very, very serious. The UK Government sitting on its hands waiting to be asked by the UNHCR, when peace, unity and lives are at stake. This is unacceptable especially because the UK is the Chairman of the Core committee. There must be a liaison between the core group and the UNHRC, this is very unfair and very biased in my judgement, Lord Naseby went on to say.

Lord Naseby went on to reveal evidence from the dispatch reports that he had in his possession; just take the date 16 February 2009, Colonel Gash writes: I observed the arrival of 400 Internally Displaced Persons by sea to Trincomalee. Taken on a boat down to Trincomalee the operation was effective and efficient but most importantly was carried out with compassion, respect and concern. I am entirely certain that this was genuine my presence was not planned and was based on a sudden opportunity; I have free access to 300 m long stretch of the beach over a four-hour period and was able to observe upwards of 200 Sri Lankan Navy personnel working extremely hard in difficult conditions. Their high morale was notable; they were enjoying the work and clearly finding it satisfying. There were constant examples of thoughtful assistants looking after babies while mothers were being searched for, helping elderly ladies or mothers of babies with their bags cheerfully offering food, etc.

After reading extracts of Colonel Gashs report Lord Naseby went on to say: There is clear evidence you havent got an army which has gone amok. The absolute opposite has taken place, taking huge care of the civilians at a great cost to themselves. Then you have UNHRC in Geneva producing a report which ignores the basic fundamentals and disregards all this vital evidence. The UN has something to answer for this is totally unacceptable in my judgement.

Lord Naseby stated: Unfortunately there seems to be a bit of history where everybody is sitting on their hands and refusing to divulge information.

The statement is said in a very polite manner but the reality is that they are withholding critical information which is vital to the Government of Sri Lanka as it would exonerate its armed forces from this heinous allegation that has been enacted with the collusion of several foreign governments, the UK taking the lead here.

Lord Naseby went on to state: Thats not 40,000 killed and US Ambassador Blake said on 7 April according to the UN the dead was 4,164. Then you have your own census which have been done by Tamils themselves indicating that February 2012 stated 7,400 people died in the five months.

The former Chief Justice Sarath Silva meticulously examined the details on the Ada Derana 24 TV program Get Real with Mahieash Johnny of the dispatches of Colonel Gash and pointed out that Colonel Gashs input was not just some run-of-the-mill analysis, it was one of the most objective reports ever undertaken on the armed conflict against the LTTE. Silva also pointed out that Colonel Gash was the UKs designated military attach in Sri Lanka to monitor and report back on the counterinsurgency campaign being conducted. He was even given diplomatic status by Sri Lanka and allowed to travel where he wanted without restrictions.

He then pointed out the dubious manner in which the report had been presented to Lord Naseby by the British Government, with large portions of it blocked out even while being presented to a member of their own House of Lords. By looking at the parts that were not concealed though, Silva asserted that the hidden passages were clearly parts that would have worked against the UK Governments efforts at the UNHRC, had they not been censored. Given that there are no obvious national security implications, he also pointed out how strange it was that so many sections of the report had been rendered inaccessible.

The UK Government, despite being such a prominent part of the resolution against Sri Lanka, did not share the Gash report with the UNHRC. Silva noted how patently unfair such behaviour was. The Gash report, he reaffirmed, rightly noted the vast military capabilities of the LTTE, including the use of trained mercenary pilots, submarine manufacturing plants and conventional warfare capabilities. It thus made it clear that that the Sri Lankan Army was not just facing an IRA type terror campaign but a far more complex armed insurgency. He added that the Gash report also gives specific instances of attacks by the LTTE against civilians in no-fire zones, something rarely acknowledged.

Former Chief Justice Silva then used the report to discuss Gashs graphic accounts of forced recruitment by the LTTE, especially of women and children. He also noted that the report documented how food supplies were controlled by the LTTE and denied to civilians until their own needs were met. The former Chief Justice was particularly critical of the Darusman report throughout the conversation, which he said lacked the data and overview of the Gash version.

Another important part of the discussion was the number of civilian causalities that is often touted in such conversations, with some accusations bloating up to 40,000. Sarath Silva once again used the report to demonstrate how such numbers are beyond the realm of what was actually being discussed at the time. As a matter of fact, Colonel Gash even reveals that the UN-estimated numbers themselves were around 6,000 civilian casualties, a far stretch from the figures being thrown out now.

In fact, the Gash report repeatedly points to the compassionate way in which the armed forces acted in the heat of the moment, often putting themselves at risk to rescue people even when the LTTE sent in suicide bombers among civilians to deter any humanitarian operation.

Sarath Silva also critiqued the international system itself and the way in which the UNHRC process works, with nations that have no knowledge or interaction with Sri Lanka now becoming the co-sponsors of the resolution itself.

The former Chief Justice added that the entire campaign was being done with a political agenda, rather than any altruistic concern for human rights in Sri Lanka. There are vested interests who wish to keep the LTTE flame alight perpetually and he warned that there was nothing objective about these accusations. He also stressed on his deep appreciation for Lord Nasebys pursuit of the truth, despite the obstacles that keep being thrown his way.

It is difficult to avoid a few questions after listening to Sarath Silvas comments:

1. Why was the report presented to Lord Naseby censored to such a large extent? What are the security implications that prompted the UK Government to block out so many passages?

2. Why did the UK Government, despite playing such an active role in moving the resolution forward, not share the Gash report with members of the Human Rights Council? Colonel Gash was the person specifically appointed for this task, surely his report has to be the central piece of first-hand evidence to consider?

More here:

Revelation on TV: UK fake news in collusion with Core Group in UN Human Rights Council - ft.lk

The federal governments News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code, which passed the Senate today, makes strong points about the need to regulate misinformation.

In response, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, TikTok, Redbubble and Twitter have agreed to abide by a code of conduct targeting misinformation.

Suspiciously, however, the so-called Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation was developed by, well, these same companies. Behind it is the Digital Industries Group (DIGI), an association formed by them and some other companies.

In self-regulating, they hope to show the government theyre addressing the proliferation of misinformation (false content spread despite intent to deceive) and disinformation (content that intends to deceive) on their platforms.

But the only real commitment under the code would be to appear to be doing something. Since the code is voluntary, the platforms signed up can basically opt in to the measures at their own discretion.

The code suggests platforms might release data trends about known misinformation, or might label known false content or content spread by seemingly unreliable sources. They might identify and restrict paid political ads trying to deceive users, or they might reveal the sources of misinformation.

These are all great actions the platforms might take, as they arent bound by the code. Rather, the code will likely encourage them to police misinformation around an issue of the day by taking visible action around one topic, without confronting the spread of other profitable false information on their platforms.

The consequences of this would be great. False news can lead to dangerous conspiracies and armed attacks. It can even influence elections, which we saw in 2019 when Facebook hosted posts claiming the Labor party would introduce a death tax on inheritance. Things quickly spiralled.

The government has promised tougher regulation of misinformation if it feels the voluntary code isnt working. Although, we should be careful about allowing the powerful regulate the powerful.

Its unclear, for instance, whether the Morrison government would view posts about a supposed Labor death tax as being a real threat to democracy even though this is misinformation.

Read more: How political parties legally harvest your data and use it to bombard you with election spam

Regulating speech on the internet is difficult. In particular, misinformation is hard to define because often the distinction between genuinely dangerous misinformation, and valued myth or opinion, is based on a communitys values.

The latter is information that may not be accurate but which people still have a right to express. For instance:

Nickelback is the best band on the planet.

This is probably untrue. But the statement is relatively harmless. While the actual truthfullness is lacking, its subjective nature is clear. Considering this nuance, the solution then is for misinformation to be policed by the community itself, not an elite body.

Reset Australia, an independent group that targets digital threats to democracy, recently proposed a project in which interested tech platforms and members of the public could be subscribed to a live list of the most popular misinformation content.

A citizen-run jury could monitor the list to help ensure public oversight. This would involve the whole public sphere in the debate about misinformation, not just the government and platforms.

Once fake news is in the open, it becomes easier for public figures, journalists and academics to expose.

Another effective strategy would be to create a national register of misinformation sources and content. Anyone could register what they think is misinformation to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, helping it quickly identify malicious sources and alert the platforms.

Digital platforms already do this internally, both through moderators and and by allowing the public to report posts. But they dont show how posts are judged and dont release the data. By creating a public register, ACMA could monitor whether platforms are self-regulating effectively.

Such a register could also keep a record of legitimate and illegitimate information sources and give each one a reputation score. People who accurately reported misinformation could also receive high ratings, similar to Ubers ratings for drivers and passengers.

While this wouldnt restrict anyones right to expression, it would be easier to point to the reliability of the source of information.

Its worth noting this type of community-based peer review system would be open to potential abuse. Movie review site Rotten Tomatoes has had serious problems with people trolling film reviews.

For example, Captain Marvel was awarded a low audience rating because toxic online communities decided they didnt like the idea of a female superhero, so they coordinated to rate the film poorly. But the platform was able to identify this pattern of behaviour.

The site ultimately protected the films score by ensuring only people who had bought a ticket to see the movie could rate it. While any system is open to abuse, so is self regulation and communities have shown they can (and are willing to) solve such problems.

Wikipedia is another community-driven peer review resource and one which most people consider highly valuable. It works because there are enough people in the world who care about the truth.

Judging the accuracy of claims made in public allows for a consensus that is open to be challenged. On the other hand, leaving decisions about truth to private companies or political parties could actually exacerbate the misinformation problem.

The news media bargaining code has finally passed. Facebook is set to bring news back to Australia, as well as start making deals to pay local news publishers for content.

The agreement between the government and Facebook which serves the interests of those parties seems like just another echo of the past. Large media players will retain some revenue and Google and Facebook will continue to expand their immense control of the internet.

Meanwhile, users remain reliant on the benevolence of tech platforms to do just enough about misinformation to satisfy the government of the day. We should be careful about surrendering power to both platforms and governments.

This new code wont force significant change out of either, despite the pressing need for it.

Read more: Google is leading a vast, covert human experiment. You may be one of the guinea pigs

See the article here:

We can't trust big tech or the government to weed out fake news, but a public-led approach just might work - The Conversation AU

HOUSTON, TX In the past few months, the concept of polling has come under considerable scrutiny. Whether it is in politics or sports, the idea of the poll, while having some role to play, is also sometimes thought to be a poor representation of reality and what people are really thinking. Still, for some reason, people still do enjoy their polls, and one could argue that there were some significant market corrections, at least on the political side for Jan 2021. As for the sporting side, well, at least for college football, there is still some work to do (like Cincinnati getting screwed out of the right to make the FBS Playoffs so that they could be annihilated by the best professional team in college football that is Alabama)oh, sorryanyway, back to the polls.

We at Totally Not Fake News understand that the raison detre of polls are for internet debate. However, we have supreme confidence in our polling system, from the questions to the tabulations on how the results are posted. Completely objective and (mostly) above repute. Our methods are completely legal (in our eyes) and we can assure the reading audience that we simply go with the factsnothing else.

Therefore, we will now update you on the results of a couple of polls we recently put out into the field. The first one concerned finding the correct, parallel figure for current Texans Executive Vice President for Football Operations, Jack Easterby. Here is the recap. Based on the responses, here is the final result of that poll:

It is official. Any comparisons of Jack Easterby to figures, real or imaginary, must be with Rasputin. This is the certified resulhold on, we are getting word that somehow, there may have been a flaw in the system. Yesyes, it appears that we at Totally Not Fake News, in spite of our best efforts, got this one wrong. Apparently, Rasputin is not an acceptable response. Therefore, we will go with the next highest option, that Easterby is his own level of vileness. This is a legitimate revision and has absolutely nothing to do with some disturbing email correspondence we received from some dude named Vladimir, who threatened to use some group calling itself the FSB to mess with our underwear drawer and/or threaten to reveal our internet search history to our significant others if we did not correct the error of besmirching the good name of Rasputin with the Easterby comparisons.

Anyway, now that this poll is done, let us move on to the next (less contentious) polling question. In this one, we asked about what term/phrase best describes the current state of the Texans. Here is the recap. The results:

Apparently, the public cannot limit itself to just one descriptive adjective. Maybe that is a case in America that we want more than the rest of the world. Either that, or the situation for the Texans warrants multiple descriptors. This is quite the drunk internet topic for the future. Would have been interesting to see the results if we could have revealed that one answer, which was [Censored by the Order of the Rasputinwhoops, the Easterby. We said/meant EASTERBY!!! VLAD, IT IS EASTERBY, NOT RASPUTIN!!! TELL YOUR FSB DROOGS TO CHILL, OK!!!]

With those results out of the way, we can move on to other areas of public debate/concern. Our next great poll question for consideration:

[Editors Note: Stepping out of character here, but while you ponder the poll results, consider that a lot of Texans fans are in some dire straits right now. The unseasonable weather is making life in Texas rough. Many need help now and many more are going to need some significant help in the near future. For those that can, here are some options for how to assist:

Any little bit you can provide will be of some help. Thank you].

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Totally Not Fake News: Official Polling Results from Our Completely Accurate and Unbiased Totally Not Fake Ne - Battle Red Blog

GCHQ is taking on Russian fake news bots with plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to find troll farms, it has been announced.

Britains cyber spy agency has outlined how it protects the country against state-backed disinformation campaigns and other cyber attacks using AI.

Shadowy organisations such as Russias Internet Research Agency, the St Petersburg-based troll farm indicted in the US for meddling in the 2016 Presidential election, will come under increased scrutiny.

In a paper released today titled Ethics of AI: Pioneering a New National Security, GCHQ has explained how it counters malign foreign cyber attacks, whilst adhering to an ethical framework for using AI in operations.

Jeremy Fleming, the GCHQ Director, said AIallows our brilliant analysts to manage vast volumes of complex data and improves decision-making in the face of increasingly complex threats from protecting children to improving cyber security.

While this unprecedented technological evolution comes with great opportunity, it also poses significant ethical challenges for all of society, including GCHQ.

Today we are setting out our plan and commitment to the ethical use of AI in our mission. I hope it will inspire further thinking at home and abroad about how we can ensure fairness, transparency and accountability to underpin the use of AI.

The paper describes how hostile states can use AI to mount disinformation attacks by automating the production of fake news and other content to undermine public debate.

This could include the production of deepfake videos with fictional but very convincing content. False audio material designed to mislead can also be produced with AI.

A growing number of states are using AI-enabled tools and techniques to pursue political ends by spreading disinformation to shape public perceptions and undermine trust, the paper states.

GCHQ says it uses AI to assist in tackling this threat by fact checking information with trusted sources, detecting when images and videos have been altered and blocking botnets - networks of private computers infected with malicious software and controlled as a group without the owners knowledge, that are used to send spam and other malicious material.

So-called troll farms, organisations making deliberately offensive or provocative online posts to cause conflict or manipulate public opinion, are being targeted by GCHQ.

The report says AI will help identify such places so that online operations could be mounted to counteract these malicious accounts.

Russia has, in recent years, made a number of attempts to disrupt our own and our allies way of life, andGCHQ also responded to the release of the online WannaCry attack by North Korean cyber actors, the report says.

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GCHQ takes on Russian fake news bots with plans to use AI to find troll farms, new paper reveals - Telegraph.co.uk

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The code was created by industry group DIGI and has been signed by Google, Microsoft, Tik-Tok, Twitter, Redbubble and Facebook, despite its decision last week to restrict news content on its platform. It will be overseen by the Australian media regulator and is being released at a time when vaccine conspiracies and misinformation about COVID-19 are rampant on the internet.

Google and Facebook are separately waiting on the legislation of new laws that will make them pay for use of news content on their platforms. The news media bargaining code was passed by the House of Representatives last week and is expected to be debated in the Senate this week.

Under the commitments to tackle the spread of harmful content, measures such as labelling false content or using trust indicators on articles, demoting content that exposes users to misinformation and disinformation and suspension and disabling of accounts of users which engage in inauthentic behaviours could be introduced. Users may also be notified if theyve been exposed to disinformation.

Misinformation is defined as false or misleading information that is likely to cause harm. Disinformation is false or misleading information that is distributed by users via spam and bots.

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Prioritisation of credible news sources and providing funding for fact checkers are also among the measures that could be taken up. This could be a challenge for Facebook following its introduction of a blanket news ban last Thursday.

It is unclear how Facebook could meet all its commitments of the code in the absence of news on its platform, but it does have measures in place such as third party fact checkers to handle misleading content.

The social media giant said earlier this month it would ban vaccine conspiracy theories from its platforms, including claims they cause autism, in an attempt to reduce COVID-19 misinformation.

Political advertising is not considered misinformation or disinformation under the code, but the tech platforms will implement measures to provide users with transparency about the source of the ads. They could also ban ads that misrepresent or deceive users about the advertiser. Political ads which appear in news or editorial content will also be disclosed as paid for communication.

Decisions on what measures need to be taken will be based on factors such as the severity of the post or article, who is involved in its creation, the speed at which it is disseminated, whether it is maliciously motivated and if the content is misleading or harmful.

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All signatories are required to publish information for users on what measures they have in place and will release an annual report on their efforts. They will also establish a way to address non-compliance.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority chair Nerida OLoughlin welcomed the code and encouraged all tech platforms to opt-in.

The code anticipates platforms actions will be graduated and proportionate to the risk of harm. This will assist them to strike an appropriate balance between dealing with troublesome content and the right to freedom of speech and expression, Ms OLoughlin said.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the government would carefully assess if the new code was effective.

Weve all seen the damage that online disinformation can cause, particularly among vulnerable groups, Mr Fletcher said. This has been especially apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Morrison government will be watching carefully to see whether this voluntary code is effective in providing safeguards against the serious harms that arise from the spread of disinformation and misinformation on digital platforms.

Our Morning Edition newsletter is a curated guide to the most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up to The Sydney Morning Heralds newsletter here, The Ages here, Brisbane Times here, and WAtodays here.

Zoe Samios is a media and telecommunications reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

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Political ads, fake news targeted in newly formed misinformation code - Sydney Morning Herald