DisinfoDocket 14 November
Hi! I'm Victoria and welcome to DisinfoDocket. DisinfoDocket curates influence operations-related academic research, news, events and job opportunities.
Highlights:
- Investigating YouTube’s Ideological “Rabbit Hole” (The Markup, 12 November)
- War in Ukraine: lessons learned in countering information manipulation (EEAS, 11 November)
There needs to be some calibration of rhetoric re: election disinformation and foreign interference. 2016 and 2020 were horrible. 2018 and 2022, by comparison, not so much.
— Emerson T. Brooking (@etbrooking) November 13, 2022
There are plenty of reasons to worry about 2024. But if *everything* is a 5-alarm fire, nothing is.
Interesting how this echoes what happened in Australia's elections earlier this year. Anti-trans dogwhistling fascinates some corners of the conservative base, but it fell flat with the broader electorate; they're just not that interested. #auspol https://t.co/jdcS2Oo78X
— Elise Thomas (@elisethoma5) November 13, 2022
* The ongoing global repercussions of recent layoffs at Twitter
* Upcoming elections in Nigeria
* Global & thematic influence operations-related news
1. Platforms & Technology
- Facebook’s Meta staff in MENA hit in massive global layoffs (Zawya, 14 November)
- Investigating YouTube’s Ideological “Rabbit Hole” (The Markup, 12 November)
2. Twitter
Getting word that a large number of number of Twitter contractors were just laid off this afternoon with no notice, both in the US and abroad. Functions affected appear to include content moderation, real estate, and marketing, among others
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) November 13, 2022
Content Moderation & Verification
- Twitter users impersonate video game companies, causing mayhem (Washington Post, 11 November)
- Elon Musk’s first big Twitter product paused after fake accounts spread (Washington Post, 11 November)
- Twitter chaos after wave of blue tick impersonations (BBC, 12 November)
- Elon Musk sacks outsourced Twitter moderators hired to track hate and other harmful content (ABC, 14 November)
- Twitter Flags Mediaite Post Critical of Elon Musk as ‘Potentially Spammy’ (Mediate, 12 November)