Disinfo Docket 6 May

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Highlights
Key #January6th Instigator, Nick Fuentes, Reinstatement on Twitter/X: The Implications
— Just Security (@just_security) May 4, 2024
By @thomasjoscelyn & @jhglick who both served on House Select Committee
Drawing from video footage on 1/6 and Fuentes' work in run-up to 1/6.https://t.co/aTg9zNYHVC
"When it comes to disinformation, 'social media took the cost of distribution to zero, and generative AI takes the cost of generation to zero'" @noupside.
— Dorothea Baur (Dr.) (also on bsky) (@DorotheaBaur) May 4, 2024
Even worse, personalised disinformation can be "generated to appeal to small groups".
ht @mario_gug https://t.co/cSMtpEovcm
- Don’t Hype the Disinformation Threat: Downplaying the Risk Helps Foreign Propagandists—but So Does Exaggerating It (Foreign Affairs, 3 May)
Listen: Podcast: Don't Hype Disinfo, Say Disinfo Experts (Tech Policy Press, 5 May)
1. Platforms & Technology
- Google trial wraps up as judge weighs landmark US antitrust claims (Reuters, 3 May)
- Social media is more 'chaotic' and 'fragmented' than ever, so what's the future of how we live online? (ABC, 3 May)
Meta
- Instagram courts TikTok users with algorithm revamp (BBC, 3 May)
- ‘News on Facebook is dead’: memes replace Australian media posts as Meta turns off the tap (Guardian, 5 May)
- I Love Facebook. That’s Why I’m Suing Meta. (NYT, 5 May)
TikTok
- Europe is nowhere close to banning TikTok (Politico, 3 May)
- Divided Trump campaign weighs joining TikTok, the app he tried to ban (Washington Post, 5 May)
X (Twitter)
- X is changing how blocking works to curb abuse (Mashable, 3 May)
- Elon Musk’s Plan For AI News (Big Technology, 3 May)
2. Russia & Ukraine
- Germany and allies accuse Russia of sweeping cyberattacks (Reuters, 3 May)
- Russia puts Ukraine's Zelenskiy on wanted list (Reuters, 4 May)
- Russia-Ukraine war: Lithuania hits out at Russia ‘disinformation’ over spy claims – as it happened (Guardian, 3 May)