"It is almost impossible to obtain information about who is behind Hungarian misinformation websites; financial information about them is even harder to come by; Hungarian misinformation websites fall on the spectrum from purely ideological sites to simple moneymaking machines; Facebook appears to b
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e the almost exclusive source of traffic for misinformation websites in Hungary; Misinformation websites focusing on generating income are often abandoned and then brought back to life using a different domain name; The Facebook page of misinformation websites is stable and keeps directing users to the ever-changing urls of the websites; The websites’ posts are spread via Facebook pages and groups that often bear names unrelated to the website. In a lot of cases, this can be because the websites’ names have changed. But we also found signs of an underground trade of Facebook groups and pages; The revenue generated by placing ads on a website may not be significant, but Hungarian misinformation websites appear to have at least a couple of sister-sites; At the money-making end of the spectrum, lots of misinformation websites appear to be controlled by few individuals/groups, and some individuals/groups appear to run a high number of misinformation websites; One of the groups identified as operating a number of misinformation websites can be linked to a network of political organizations that have been accused of fraud in the 2014 and 2018 general elections in Hungary." (Main findings, page 1)
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"The presented report looks at 49 major Slovak disinformation and misinformation websites and sketches out their ownership as well as financial background. The report succeeds in identifying the ownership or operational structure behind 35 websites. In terms of financial data, the report canvasses f
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our sources of income: tax designation, e-commerce, crowdfunding, and advertising. In conclusion, the Slovak misinformation and disinformation website scene appears to be run by multiple independent entities using various business models to sustain operation. Transparency and accountability remain an issue in most of the cases: Most of the websites with an unclear or concealed background are health and lifestyle related; 57% of websites were established during 2013-2016; Out of 14 health and lifestyle websites only one does not display ads or sells goods and services; Out of 49 websites, 38 either display ads or sell goods and services." (Main findings, page 1)
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"Thorben Prenzel stellt in seinem Buch die Triple-A-Methode vor, die eine einfache Handlungsanleitung für den Alltag bietet. Diese verständliche Schritt-für-Schritt Anleitung hilft Ihnen, gekonnt die richtigen Argumente zur richtigen Zeit anzubringen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
"Esta guía instruccional está diseñada para el uso de periodistas, facilitadores, académicos y estudiantes con el fin de contextualizar la crisis de las ‘noticias falsas’ del siglo 21. Por medio de algunos casos relevantes y un cronograma, los usuarios podrán informarse de manera más efect
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iva sobre las causas y consecuencias del ‘desorden informacional’—desde ataques periodísticos de ‘trolls,’ hasta la manipulación de elecciones y crisis diplomáticas. Aunque históricamente los medios también se han visto involucrados en la desinformación, esto no se considera un legítimo paradigma contemporáneo en los diferentes medios de comunicación. Es por esto que las manifestaciones contemporáneas de la desinformación son más fácilmente vistas en las redes sociales—un fenómeno que pone en riesgo el periodismo auténtico y a las sociedades de manera general." (Página 2)
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"Disinformation existed in the past, but the growing ubiquity of social media grants political actors increasing capacity to spread dangerous rhetoric and imagery in their pursuit of power. Incendiary content has the potential to catalyze mob violence, riots, and vigilantes taking the law into their
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own hands. Disinformation and fostered distrust in legitimate news sources can lead to threats and violence against journalists, further undermining the institutions that could provide accurate information. In the cases we discuss here—the U.S.-Mexico border, India and Sri Lanka, and three Latin American 2018 elections—disinformation inflamed existing cleavages and caused violence. While these illustrative cases are spread across the world, and the violence in each place is related to distinct histories, close analysis highlights five common challenges for addressing disinformation in areas vulnerable to violence. These common challenges include: • The growing ubiquity of social media, usually combined with low trust in traditional forms of media, creating a situation in which disinformation can spread quickly. • Low or declining trust in government institutions, causing a rise in vigilantism—which social media encourages and fuels. • Low levels of media literacy, and sometimes also low levels of general literacy, among perpetrators who do not have consistent access to formal school systems. • No transparency in social media company policies, making it difficult to evaluate and improve upon content moderation policies that could quell or spur violence. • Finally, government actors that could legislate change have an interest using disinformation to their own ends." (Page 2)
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"This document serves as a reading list and primer on digital disinformation. While the proliferation of literature on the subject is a positive reaction to an otherwise vague yet troubling threat, it can be difficult to grasp how much has been accomplished and what questions remain unanswered. This
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document will therefore give readers a foundational understanding of the immense amount of work that has been done in the last few years on digital disinformation and where future research may be heading. The sources are divided into nine categories of interest and include articles and reports from academic journals, research institutes, non-profit organizations, and news media, reflecting the multidisciplinary and sociotechnical nature of the subject. Although many of the sources can fit into more than one category, having a classification framework is useful for conceptualizing the kinds of research being done and provides direction for those new to the literature. And finally, like a well-run state-sponsored troll farm, the scholarship of digital disinformation continues to produce new content every day. We would be remiss if we did not stress that this document is only a snapshot of a particular moment in this expanding field. As such, we’ve included a list of additional resources that are regularly updated with research and news on disinformation and media manipulation more broadly." (Introduction)
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"El módulo explora la importancia crítica de la ética para medios tradicionales, como el periodismo, y para medios modernos, como las redes sociales. La presencia de las redes sociales y las noticias digitales ha aumentado la responsabilidad ética de la gente que opera en este campo, especialmen
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te teniendo en cuenta el alcance global y el poderoso impacto de estos nuevos tipos de medios de comunicación. Estos cambios, junto con las noticias falsas y el aumento de las restricciones a los medios de todo el mundo, hacen que este módulo sea importante y relevante para alumnos de cualquier disciplina. Reconociendo este panorama cambiante, el módulo extiende la discusión de las responsabilidades éticas más allá de los periodistas profesionales hasta la gente que consume las noticias, los usuarios de las redes sociales y los llamados "periodistas ciudadanos". Está diseñado para ayudar a los ponentes a ampliar la comprensión de sus alumnos de quién es exactamente un proveedor o un consumidor de medios de comunicación, y qué tipo de consideraciones éticas deben tener en cuenta quienes desempeñan estas funciones. Este módulo también busca hacer que los alumnos comprendan el efecto perjudicial que puede tener la falta de integridad y ética en la provisión y el consumo de medios de comunicación." (Introducción)
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"While examples of the rapid spread of misinformation date back to the earliest days of scientific medicine, the internet, by allowing instantaneous communication and powerful amplification has brought about a quantum change. In democracies where ideas compete in the marketplace for attention, accur
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ate scientific information, which may be difficult to comprehend and even dull, is easily crowded out by sensationalized news. In order to uncover the current evidence and better understand the mechanism of misinformation spread, we report a systematic review of the nature and potential drivers of health-related misinformation. We searched PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, Scopus and Google databases to identify relevant methodological and empirical articles published between 2012 and 2018. A total of 57 articles were included for full-text analysis. Overall, we observe an increasing trend in published articles on health-related misinformation and the role of social media in its propagation. The most extensively studied topics involving misinformation relate to vaccination, Ebola and Zika Virus, although others, such as nutrition, cancer, fluoridation of water and smoking also featured. Studies adopted theoretical frameworks from psychology and network science, while co-citation analysis revealed potential for greater collaboration across fields. Most studies employed content analysis, social network analysis or experiments, drawing on disparate disciplinary paradigms. Future research should examine susceptibility of different sociodemographic groups to misinformation and understand the role of belief systems on the intention to spread misinformation. Further interdisciplinary research is also warranted to identify effective and tailored interventions to counter the spread of health-related misinformation online." (Abstract)
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"When comparing media freedom in Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand, so-called “fake news” appears as threats to a deliberative (online) public sphere in these three diverse contexts. However, “racist propaganda”, “information operations” and “negative campaigning” might be more accurat
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e terms that explain these forms of systematic manipulative political communication. The three cases show forms of disinformation in under-researched contexts and thereby expand the often Western focused discourses on hate speech and fake news. Additionally, the analysis shows that harmful disinformation disseminated online originates from differing contextual trajectories and is not an “online phenomenon”. Drawing on an analysis of connotative context factors, this explorative comparative study enables an understanding of different forms of harmful disinformation in Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand. The connotative context factors were inductively inferred from 32 expert interviews providing explanations for the formation of political communication (control) mechanisms." (Abstract)
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"The findings of a recent Ipsos survey conducted on behalf of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) reveal that fake news is very much a global epidemic and that its impact is widespread. The poll of over 25,000 interviews in over 25 economies finds that well over four in five (8
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6%) online global citizens believe they’ve been exposed to fake news. Among them, nearly nine in ten (86%) report having initially believed that the news was real, at least once. Indeed, the results suggest that misinformation is woven deep within the fabric of social media, most notably on Facebook, where as many as two-thirds (67%) report encountering fake news. Other common sources of fake news include: social media platforms more generally (65%), websites (60%), YouTube (56%), and television (51%)." (Page 1)
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"Para contestar la pregunta de qué hacer frente a las “Fake News”, se prohíbe dar respuestas simplistas. El presente dictamen argumenta que borrar “Fake News” de las redes sociales no es una panacea. Todo lo contrario: Los populistas percibirían su eliminación como una confirmación de s
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us actitudes basadas en teorías conspirativas y verían otro motivo para criticar a las élites. También es probable que los usuarios más susceptibles en este sentido se retiren hacia lugares más apartados del Internet, con lo cual se refuerza la fragmentación de la sociedad. Por lo tanto, la Ley sobre la Exigibilidad Jurídica en las Redes (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, NetzDG) es el enfoque equivocado. También los mensajes de advertencia que de manera generalizada marcan noticias como “Fake News” pueden desplegar efectos más bien negativos: Por un lado, estas advertencias en el News Feed caen fácilmente en el olvido, mientras que la noticia en sí se queda en la memoria del usuario. Por el otro lado, los usuarios pueden percibir advertencias generales en su News Feed como una intervención en su libertad de decisión autónoma y por consiguiente enojarse. Por lo tanto, es importante aplicar estos instrumentos con un enfoque hacia la responsabilidad propia de los usuarios. Las libertades de información y de expresión como libertades fundamentales son indispensables para el funcionamiento de las sociedades democráticas. Las medidas, ya sean dictadas por el Estado o desarrolladas por las propias redes sociales, tienen que tomarlo en cuenta. Por lo tanto, el dictamen recomienda las siguientes medidas: Promoción escolar y extraescolar de la competencia mediática para proteger contra influencias mediáticas nocivas y fomentar un espíritu crítico en el usuario. Utilización de mensajes de advertencia antes de difundir las “Fake News”. Esta medida hace un llamamiento a la responsabilidad de los usuarios, por lo cual tiene sentido. Fomento y cultivo de un diálogo sociopolítico respetuoso para evitar la formación de grupos a favor y en contra de las élites. Intensificación y coordinación de la investigación nacional e internacional sobre el uso de los medios de comunicación y el efecto de las “Fake News” para llegar a una evaluación final de los peligros y un tra bajo informativo eficiente." (Sinopsis, página 5)
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"Based on an extensive literature review, we suggest that ‘fake news’ alludes to two dimensions of political communication: the fake news genre (i.e. the deliberate creation of pseudojournalistic disinformation) and the fake news label (i.e. the instrumentalization of the term to delegitimize ne
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ws media). While public worries about the use of the label by politicians are increasing, scholarly interest is heavily focused on the genre aspect of fake news. We connect the existing literature on fake news to related concepts from political communication and journalism research, present a theoretical framework to study fake news, and formulate a research agenda. Thus, we bring clarity to the discourse about fake news and suggest shifting scholarly attention to the neglected fake news label." (Abstract)
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"1. Majorities around the globe say that social media has increased their ease of communications & access to information, but are mixed on its impact on civility. On balance, it is seen as a positive, but not without its problems. (slides 8-34). 2. Four in ten (44%) admit to being duped by fake news
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at least sometimes. Fake news is seen as most prevalent on social media & the Internet, less prevalent in mainstream media. Online trolls & social media platforms are most commonly cited as the actors responsible for spreading fake news, but governments and regular users play a part. Few can agree who should police and determine what is fake. Strong majorities support all forms of actions to resist fake news, save for government censorship. (slides 35-61; 83-147). 3. The vast majority think that fake news is made worse by the internet & that it has negatively impacted their economy, and political discourse. The United States takes the lion’s share of the blame for spreading fake news, even among its own citizens. As many as two in five now trust the media less, as a result of fake news. (slides 62-82; 148-176). 4. Fewer than half express at least some degree of confidence that algorithms used in daily life are unbiased, in any context. Citizens living in more developed economies tend to be less confident in the unbiasedness of algorithms. (slides 177-195). 5. The most common reasons for a lack of confidence in the unbiasedness of algorithms include: a lack of transparency, a perception that they are exploitative by design & the absence of a human element from decision-making. By contrast, objectivity, a lack of human emotion to cloud decision-making & the absence of human influence are most frequently mentioned by those who express confidence in the unbiasedness of algorithms. (slides 196-210)" (Five key take-aways, page 6)
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