"The research included a survey of 546 journalists along with in-depth interviews of 10 senior reporters and editors in national and international newsrooms based in Pakistan. The survey, aimed at understanding the perception of their ability to identify and counter misinformation, found that almost
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90% of respondents believe that misinformation has had an impact on public trust in the media. It also concluded that nine out of ten respondents claimed that they have become more vigilant about fact-checking due to accusations about the media's role in spreading misinformation. Editors interviewed for the study felt that accusations of “fake news” and attacks on journalists on social media had not only made them more vigilant but also fearful of putting out information. In terms of their understanding, the survey found that 89% of respondents claimed there were discussions in their newsrooms about misinformation. While on the face of it this appears encouraging, the survey indicated that none of the 584 respondents were able to differentiate between misinformation, mal-information, and disinformation casting a shadow over their true understanding of integral concepts." (Executive summary, page 3)
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"1) Any definition of disinformation in legislation or other regulation, such as regulatory guidance, must take into account the serious implications for freedom of expression and media freedom. Particularly to the extent that provisions on disinformation have been adopted in criminal law, a precise
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definition is paramount. This is even more important following the basic principle of criminal law, which prescribes that penalties only may be imposed when the criminal behaviour and the applicable penal sanctions within the upper and lower limits are precisely formulated in the law. Scholars and fundamental rights experts have warned that disinformation is an “extraordinarily elusive concept to define in law”, and is “susceptible to providing executive authorities with excessive discretion to determine what is disinformation, what is a mistake, what is truth”. Further, measures to combat disinformation “must never prevent journalists and media actors from carrying out their work or lead to content being unduly blocked on the Internet.” Indeed, the European Commission has warned that laws on disinformation which are “too broad” raise particular concerns as regards freedom of expression, and can lead to self-censorship. Given the dangers associated with defining disinformation in legislation, great caution should be exercised in enacting a definition. 2) Current national approaches are very divergent, which from a Digital Single Market and market freedom perspective can create problems for the freedom of the media to disseminate information across borders. This clearly demonstrates a further need for considering all options of handling more unified concepts. 3) Where disinformation is sought to be defined, common elements of a more unified approach to defining disinformation should be: (a) false or misleading information, (b) disseminated with a specific intention (malicious or bad faith) (c) and has the ability to cause certain public harms." (Recommendations, page 85)
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"The pack provides easy access to various types of resources (tools, reports, toolkits, journal articles, etc.) that can support the development of tactics and plans to counter misinformation. The pack also provides a summary of what the research indicates as potential solutions to tackle misinforma
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tion." (About tis resource pack)
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"Using data from preregistered survey experiments conducted around recent elections in the United States and India, we assess the effectiveness of an intervention modeled closely on the world’s largest media literacy campaign, which provided “tips” on how to spot false news to people in 14 cou
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ntries. Our results indicate that exposure to this intervention reduced the perceived accuracy of both mainstream and false news headlines, but effects on the latter were significantly larger. As a result, the intervention improved discernment between mainstream and false news headlines among both a nationally representative sample in the United States (by 26.5%) and a highly educated online sample in India (by 17.5%). This increase in discernment remained measurable several weeks later in the United States (but not in India). However, we find no effects among a representative sample of respondents in a largely rural area of northern India, where rates of social media use are far lower." (Abstract)
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"Neben Fake News transportieren Verschwörungsideologien Inhalte, die die Grundwerte offener und demokratischer Gesellschaften angreifen. Folgende Fragen helfen dabei zu verstehen, was hinter den Erzählungen steckt: Wird ein Feindbild konstruiert und wenn ja, wie? Werden antisemitische, rassistisch
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e, antifeministische oder andere Stereotype bedient? Ist nachvollziehbar, woher die Informationen stammen und wodurch sie gestützt werden? Ist die Darstellung sehr einseitig und meinungsbasiert? Wirkt die Darstellung manipulativ? Ist die Sprache z. B. sehr extrem und stark emotional aufgeladen? Mündet die Verschwörungserzählung in einen Appell? Falls ja, in welchen? Welches Verhalten wird durch die Argumentation legitimiert? Und ist man damit einverstanden? Auf Basis dieser Fragen kann Kritik an dem geübt werden, was Verschwörungsideologien gefährlich macht, nämlich ihre menschenfeindlichen Aussagen und die daraus folgende Legitimation von gewaltvollem Verhalten bis hin zu Terrorakten." (Seite 6)
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"European Parliament resolution of 25 November 2020 on strengthening media freedom: the protection of journalists in Europe, hate speech, disinformation and the role of platforms (2020/2009(INI))." (Introduction)
"Taking a global and interdisciplinary approach, the Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories provides a comprehensive overview of conspiracy theories as an important social, cultural and political phenomenon in contemporary life. This handbook provides the most complete analysis of the phenomenon
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to date. It analyses conspiracy theories from a variety of perspectives, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. It maps out the key debates, and includes chapters on the historical origins of conspiracy theories, as well as their political significance in a broad range of countries and regions. Other chapters consider the psychology and the sociology of conspiracy beliefs, in addition to their changing cultural forms, functions and modes of transmission. This handbook examines where conspiracy theories come from, who believes in them and what their consequences are." (Publisher description)
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"In its 2020 presidential and legislative elections, Taiwan combatted and defeated Chinese propaganda and disinformation through a whole-of-society approach, one in which the government became better at debunking fake news and raising awareness of these attacks; civil society became more alert and c
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reated non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to detect, debunk, and block fake news online; and companies such as Facebook and LINE (similar to WhatsApp) became faster at finding and removing fake accounts and disinformation. Using Taiwan’s most recent elections as an example to elucidate the nature of Chinese propaganda and disinformation, this report identifies China’s motives, tactics, and actors in its foreign information warfare. Similar to Russia’s, China’s motives are to destabilize democracy and weaken governance in a target country by sowing doubts and chaos in its society, undermining its self-confidence, and increasing polarization and disunity. Its tactics include the following: 1) worsen existing social, political, economic, and generational divides; 2) exploit weaknesses in the informational system; 3) financially control and absorb traditional media; 4) employ its cyber army; 5) obfuscate the attack source through technological, commercial, and legal means; and 6) make the attacks partisan so that one side will at worst not condemn it and at best magnify the effects of its attacks. Its actors are the Chinese Cyberspace Administration, Central Propaganda Department, United Front Department, People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force, State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, 50-Cent Party (cyber army) and its content farms, and provinces, as well as agents from the target country employed by the Chinese government." (Executive summary, page 5)
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"Auf der ganzen Welt nutzen unterschiedlichste Akteure die Wirkungsmechanismen der digitalen Medien aus, um durch gezielte Desinformationskampagnen die öffentliche Meinung zu beeinflussen. Dies, so lautet die zentrale These von Peter Pomerantsev, bedrohe Demokratien und Demokratisierungsprozesse. W
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o früher Informationen durch die Zensur kontrolliert wurden, gebe es heute ein Überangebot an Informationen, deren Wahrheitsgehalt immer schwerer feststellbar ist. Dadurch ginge das Vertrauen in eine gemeinsam gelebte und objektiv überprüfbare Wirklichkeit als Voraussetzung öffentlicher Meinungs- und Willensbildung zunehmend verloren. Autokratische Regime hätten es so leichter, Narrative zu verbreiten, die das Ziel haben, politische Gegner zu schwächen, missliebige Journalistinnen und Journalisten zu diskreditieren oder zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen zu delegitimieren. Kriege wie der in der Ostukraine würden heutzutage nicht durch Schusswaffen, sondern durch Troll-Armeen, Cybermilizen und Facebook-Posts entschieden. Auf seinen Reisen taucht Pomerantsev in die grenzenlose Welt der Internetaktivistinnen und -aktivisten ein und zeigt die lokalen Folgen davon auf, wenn sie Kategorien wie Wahrheit und Lüge ins Wanken bringen." (Klappentext)
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"Misinformation is a lucrative business in several Eastern European countries, reliant on advertising revenue, and pulling in cash from a variety of other sources including government subsidies, crowdfunding, tax designations, donations and sales of merchandise. The Business of Misinformation projec
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t, run by the Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS), set out in its first phase to map the misinformation business in six countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia. Our researches identified the individuals and businesses that own local misinformation websites and their links to institutions, parties and other individuals." (Publisher description)
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"Fake News, also absichtsvoll und zumeist digital verbreitete Falschmeldungen zielen darauf, demokratische Grundprinzipien zu unterminieren. Durch Hass-Inhalte oder als Satire verschleierte Herabsetzung schüren oder verstärken sie Antipathien zwischen gesellschaftlichen Gruppen oder stacheln gar z
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u offener Gewalt an. Patrick Gensing leitet seit 2017 das Projekt ARD-faktenfinder, das Fake News in ihren unterschiedlichen Erscheinungsformen dekonstruiert. Er erläutert, welche Akteure Falschmeldungen einsetzen, welche Intentionen sie dabei verfolgen, welche demokratiegefährdenden Wirkungen Fake News – zumal in polarisierten Gesellschaften – entfalten und welche Möglichkeiten bestehen, dem entgegenzutreten." (Klappentext)
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"We conducted a mixed-methods research project in Nigeria, India, and Pakistan consisting of surveys, survey experiments, and semi-structured interviews, to better understand the spread and impact of misinformation, and in particular of misinformation on mobile messaging apps (MIMs). One of our goal
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s was to evaluate the relevance and prevalence of viral false claims in each country. We found evidence that popular “false claims” debunked by fact-checking companies are widely recognized, but, unsurprisingly, news from mainstream media are more widely recognized than the false claims. This is certainly a good sign, which confirms similar trends reported elsewhere. However, we also found preliminary evidence that misinformation circulates wide on messaging apps. When asked whether and where they encountered researcher-selected false claims, participants reported to be exposed to more false claims than “mainstream claims” (i.e., true) on messaging apps, while this was not the case for traditional media, such as newspapers and TV News. While others have found false claims to be more prevalent on social media than on mainstream media, this is the first systematic evidence that messaging apps might be the primary source for spread of misinformation." (Executive summary)
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"It is paramount, MIT social media expert Sinan Aral says, that we recognize the outsized impact social media has on our culture, our democracy, and our lives in order to steer today's social technology toward good, while avoiding the ways it can pull us apart. Otherwise, we could fall victim to wha
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t Aral calls "The Hype Machine." As a senior researcher of the longest-running study of fake news ever conducted, Aral found that lies spread online farther and faster than the truth-a harrowing conclusion that was featured on the cover of Science magazine. Among the questions Aral explores following twenty years of field research: Did Russian interference change the 2016 election? And how is it affecting the vote in 2020? Why does fake news travel faster than the truth online? How do social ratings and automated sharing determine which products succeed and fail? How does social media affect our kids? First, Aral links alarming data and statistics to three accelerating social media shifts: hyper-socialization, personalized mass persuasion, and the tyranny of trends. Next, he grapples with the consequences of the Hype Machine for elections, businesses, dating, and health." (Publisher description)
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"With their heavily censored and restricted civil societies at home, China and Russia exploit the asymmetry of democratic systems by targeting open information environments, freedom of expression, participatory civic discourse, and pluralistic and fluid politics. Democracies have unique vulnerabilit
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ies to malign influence activities, but they also have unique and durable strengths. Transparency, rule of law, a free press, and democratic norms—hallmarks of democratic states—foster resilience against malign foreign influence. In the near term, it may be more important for democracies to redouble their efforts to build up their strengths than to reduce their vulnerabilities." (Conclusion)
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"The spread of misinformation on Facebook in Bangladesh, a country with a population of over 163 million, has resulted in chaos, hate attacks, and killings. By interviewing journalists, fact-checkers, in addition to surveying the general public, we analyzed the current state of verifying misinformat
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ion in Bangladesh. Our findings show that most people in the ‘news audience’ want the news media to verify the authenticity of online information that they see online. However, the newspaper journalists say that fact-checking online information is not a part of their job, and it is also beyond their capacity given the amount of information being published online every day. We further find that the voluntary fact-checkers in Bangladesh are not equipped with sufficient infrastructural support to fill in this gap. We show how our findings are connected to some of the core concerns of CSCW (Computer-Supported Collaborative Work and Social Computing) community around social media, collaboration, infrastructural politics, and information inequality. From our analysis, we also suggest several pathways to increase the impact of fact-checking efforts through collaboration, technology design, and infrastructure development." (Abstract)
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"On December 15, Facebook announced that it had taken down three separate networks that it had discovered for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” that targeted communities across Africa. One, centered on the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali, was linked to individuals associated with the Fr
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ench military. The other two, centered respectively on CAR and Libya, were connected to the business and influence operations of Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, founder of the mercenary organization Wagner Group and the Internet Research Agency “troll farm.” The French and Russian operations in the CAR tried to expose each other, and repeatedly clashed in groups, comments, and cartoon wars. We have documented the first of the Russian operations in a joint report with Stanford University entitled “Stoking Conflict by Keystroke”; this report focuses on the French and Russian operations that targeted CAR. For the sake of brevity, the operation linked to individuals with ties to the French military will be referred to as the “French operation” in this report, while the Russian operation attributed to individuals associated with past activity by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and previous operations attributed to entities associated with Russian financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin is referred to as the “Russian operation” in this report. It is worth highlighting that Facebook did not attribute the operation directly to the French Government or the French military, and that this report similarly does not offer evidence of institutional involvement from French governmental and military entities." (Executive summary)
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"Todo se inició, en verdad, cuando tuve el encargo, en mi calidad de consultor internacional, de realizar una serie de entrevistas en torno a la desinformación en Venezuela con expertos venezolanos en temas comunicacionales y políticos. Las transcripciones de aquellas notas de voz, que se hiciero
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n en respuesta a unas mismas preguntas aplicadas a los consultados de seguidas, me parecieron sumamente pertinentes. Entonces pensé que no se debían quedar solamente como material base para la elaboración de un proyecto. Así surgió la idea de este libro heterodoxo. Tenía un grupo de respuestas y refl exiones que me parecían pertinentes para la divulgación pública. Esto ha cobrado forma como la primera parte de este libro. La desinformación, por otro lado, pasó a ser un asunto que he ido abordando con mayor énfasis en 2020, y que espero pueda seguir siendo foco de mi interés analítico. Si bien había abordado el fenómeno en años anteriores, es desde el año de esta obra, teniendo a la pandemia como telón de fondo, en que comencé a mirarlo con más atención. Terminó de empujarme la gentil solicitud que me hicieron Paula Quinteros y Omar Lugo, fundadora-propietaria y director del sitio web de noticias El Estímulo, respectivamente, quienes me solicitaron una serie de artículos sobre la desinformación en Venezuela. En total, escribí diez textos periodísticos. En cada artículo, utilicé informes o documentación específi ca que me ayudará a sustentar la óptica específi ca expresada en cada texto. Decidí tomar esos artículos, que ofrecen diversas aristas relacionadas con cómo se vive la desinformación en Venezuela, para conformar una segunda parte de este libro." (Página 7-8)
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