DisinfoDocket - 22 March
Hi! I'm Victoria and welcome to DisinfoDocket. DisinfoDocket curates influence operations-related academic research, news, events and job opportunities.
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* Russia builds a “special information operation” around Transnistria
* TikTok overhauls its community guidelines, adds new policies on AI and climate misinformation
* Peru’s far right is reviving decades-old terrorism narratives to undermine protests
* Extreme Islamist narratives take root in ASEAN, targeting 2024 Indonesian elections
Highlights
EVENT: Demystifying the Cambridge Analytica Scandal Five Years Later (Bipartisan Policy Center, 29 March)
Symposium | Democracy and Technology: Allies or Enemies? Getting Ahead of Misinformation (Democracy Journal, March)
Disinformation has the hardest impact on those who have less access to media, such as those in rural areas, or in marginalised communities. Join us 🤝 May 10&11, online for a workshop that dives into approaches to #medialiteracy and #disinformation for different communities. pic.twitter.com/pdlfcFEur1
— Alliance4Europe (@Alliance4EU) March 20, 2023
NEW on EFF’s “How to Fix the Internet” - social media researcher @alicetiara joins Cindy Cohn & @JGKelley to discuss curbing disinformation while ensuring that the most marginalized and vulnerable internet users are still empowered to speak out. https://t.co/5aceIP0JOT
— EFF (@EFF) March 21, 2023
OPPORTUNITY: PhoMeme Data Challenge currently accepting submissions (phomemes)
A group of organizations and funders, including The Archewell Foundation, have launched the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund (Grant Applications accepted until 1 April)
1. Academia & Research
Humbled and honored that our work on the association between online misinformation and vaccine hesitancy (https://t.co/xlLuStEJUc) has been included in the 2023 Economic Report of the U.S. President!@RealBreaPerry @mdeverna2 @jb_tweets @yang3kc A. Flammini @OSoMe_IU pic.twitter.com/RXgNLWlhHZ
— Francesco Pierri (@frapi9) March 21, 2023
- Russia builds a “special information operation” around Transnistria (DFRLab, 20 March)
- Race and leadership in the news media 2023: evidence from five markets (Reuters Institute, 21 March)
- Negative words in news headlines generate more clicks — but sad words are more effective than angry or scary ones (Nieman Lab, 20 March)
2. Platforms & Technology
- ChatGPT CEO admits he is 'scared' the bot could be used for 'large-scale disinformation and cyberattacks' (Daily Mail, 20 March)
- Amazon is laying off another 9,000 workers (Mashable, 21 March)
- Beyond TikTok, Dutch tell government staff to uninstall Chinese, Russian apps (Politico, 21 March)
When Elon Musk tweeted about a BBC Panorama investigation, it unleashed a torrent of abuse against me from trolls.
— Marianna Spring (@mariannaspring) March 21, 2023
It proved what I’d revealed about the site struggling to protect users. Here’s what it’s like being at the centre of a Twitter troll storm.https://t.co/vNZtqPZctV
We recently partnered with @Sprinklr for an independent assessment of hate speech on Twitter, which we’ve been sharing data on publicly for several months.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) March 21, 2023
Sprinklr’s AI-powered model found that the reach of hate speech on Twitter is even lower than our own model quantified 🧵
- Antisemitic tweets soared on Twitter after Musk took over, study finds (Washington Post, 20 March)
- Antisemitism on Twitter has more than doubled since Elon Musk took over the platform – new research (The Conversation, 20 March)
- How Elon Musk's tweets unleashed a wave of hate (BBC, 21 March)
- Cartel Twitter use spiked after Musk takeover: report (The Hill, 15 March)
Meta
- Content moderators sue Meta over alleged 'union-busting' in Kenya (Meta, 20 March)
- Meta faces third lawsuit in Kenya as moderators claim illegal sacking, blacklisting (TechCrunch, 20 March)
TikTok
In 2021, TikTok told @sophiasgaler it was "working hard" to combat incel content.
— David Gilbert (@daithaigilbert) March 21, 2023
Today, new research shows TikTok's powerful recommendation algorithm is pushing incel and suicide content to 13-year-olds
w/ comment from @ciaranoconnor and @timsquirrell https://t.co/iTpveBfb8g
Today we are releasing a comprehensive update to our Community Guidelines. To make these changes, we consulted > 100 orgs around the world, including our European Safety Advisory Council, and members of our community. Changes will take effect on 21 April https://t.co/KHy9oilW8P
— Caroline Greer (@CarolineGreer) March 21, 2023