DisinfoDocket 17 May
Hi! I'm Kate and welcome to DisinfoDocket. DisinfoDocket curates influence operations-related academic research, news, events and job opportunities.
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* Latvia struggles to keep Russian media in check
* Should social media face-altering filters be regulated?
* Conservative pundits are increasingly open about who they think should be killed...
Highlights
Tackling disinfo is a collective effort. We're excited to join @nobelprize for a spotlight on how disinformation is eroding public confidence in the sciences. Join us and be inspired by Nobel Prize laureates. Online for all: https://t.co/g6bnVExjtm #NobelPrizeSummit pic.twitter.com/K4FEYLCjWr
— Alliance4Europe (@Alliance4EU) May 15, 2023
- What a Chinese Regulation Proposal Reveals About AI and Democratic Values (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 16 May)
- Turkey's Pivotal Elections (Inkstick Media, 12 May)
- New study raises concerns over media independence and journalists’ rights (International Federation of Journalists, 15 May)
- Sam Altman: CEO of OpenAI calls for US to regulate artificial intelligence (BBC, 16 May)
- Monitoring organizations report widespread internet outages in Sudan, Pakistan (The Record by Recorded Future, 15 May)
- A Global Scavenger Hunt for Classified Documents Pits Gamers vs. U.S. (The Wall Street Journal, 15 May)
HCDE Prof. Kate Starbird and @uw_ischool Prof. Emma Sprio, co-founders of the @uwcip, overview decades-old research about how and why people share rumors and why it's even more relevant in a world with social media. Excerpted from @ISSUESinST Spring Issue: https://t.co/f73TuBJWcM
— UW Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) (@hcdeUW) May 15, 2023
This spring, our lab piloted The Information Project, a new model we tested with ~20 students for learning about the information needs of local communities and building skills to design solutions. We had three areas of focus: mental health, reproductive health & climate change. pic.twitter.com/OnhQQZ13Mv
— Brown Information Futures Lab (@IFL_Brown) May 16, 2023
2. Platforms & Technology
- More Penguins Than Europeans Can Use Google Bard: Nobody in the EU can access Google’s Bard chatbot. But the 50,000 penguins who live on a dormant volcano in the South Atlantic can sign up right now. (Wired, 15 May)
- WHO warns against bias, misinformation in using AI in healthcare (Reuters, 16 May)
- How not to regulate the web (Semafor, 13 May)
- Catching bad content in the age of AI: Why haven’t tech companies improved at content moderation? (MIT, 15 May)
- Google Launching Tools to Identify Misleading and AI Images (Bloomberg, 15 May)
- Monitoring organizations report widespread internet outages in Sudan, Pakistan (The Record, 15 May)
Meta
- Meta Faces a Big EU Fine, But Avoids the Body Blow (Bloomberg, 15 May)
- Facebook owner Meta announces tests of generative AI ads tool (Reuters, 11 May)
- Facebook and Instagram paid verification starts in UK (BBC, 16 May)
Add an extra layer of privacy to your most personal @WhatsApp conversations with Chat Lock🔒So even if someone else has your phone in their hand, locked chats are:
— Meta Newsroom (@MetaNewsroom) May 15, 2023
📁Kept in a separate folder
👁Accessible only with a password or biometric
🔕Hidden in notifications… pic.twitter.com/Iuz8JW3tE1
TikTok
- TikTok adds a new mental health awareness hub to provide users access to resources (TechCrunch, 15 May)
- Viral Video Makes False Claim About Global Oil Supply (Fact Check, 15 May)
- TikTok adds a new mental health awareness hub to provide users access to resources (Tech Crunch, 15 May)
I've read hundreds of pages of his diaries, looked at the hate symbols illustrations he drew, looked at the lists & links he posted to social media, and I can say that the evidence for his white supremacist beliefs is overwhelming.
— Mark Pitcavage (@egavactip) May 17, 2023
Elon Musk has no expertise in extremism. https://t.co/qbL57LnwFn
- Elon Musk still needs 'Twitter sitter,' judges rule (NBC, 15 May)
- Is Twitter’s new CEO heading toward a glass cliff? (Independent, 15 May)
- ‘The Velvet Hammer’: who is Twitter’s new CEO and can she fix its problems? (Guardian, 15 May)
- “The world’s largest Black group chat”: Behind the mission to preserve Black Twitter (Nieman Lab, 15 May)
- Twitter defends its controversial actions in Turkey election (The Hill, 15 May)
- Australian government threatens tougher regulation as eSafety commissioner decries Twitter’s ‘sewer rats’ (Guardian, 16 May)
- Why you can't trust Twitter's encrypted DMs: A promised audit hasn't actually happened, sources say. PLUS: Twitter's Turkey problem, and a new CEO (Platformer, 16 May)
- Twitter and Saudi officials face racketeering lawsuit over jailed satirist (The Guardian, 16 May)