Disinformation
Latest
Facebook puts groups on 'probation' for repeatedly spreading disinformation
Facebook has started putting groups on 'probation' to fight disinformation in the wake of the US election.
Patreon is the next tech giant to crack down on QAnon
Patreon is cracking down on QAnon by banning accounts that peddle the conspiracy theory.
Biden campaign says Facebook is failing to tackle election lies
The Biden campaign has sent a letter to Facebook accusing it of backsliding on its policies to remove election disinformation.
Facebook takes down false claims of extremists starting Oregon wildfires
Facebook has cracked down against false claims extremists started the Oregon wildfires, including removals and warning labels.
Facebook blocks Brazil president's allies after court order
Facebook has blocked allies of Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro after a court order, but it's appealing over free speech claims.
TikTok blocks QAnon hashtags amid larger crackdown
TikTok has blocked hashtags associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory, but it's not removing the videos themselves.
Lawmakers request monthly COVID-19 misinformation reports from online platforms
Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee want to know what the biggest online platforms are doing to combat COVID-19 misinformation. The lawmakers have sent letters to Facebook, Google and Twitter, requesting monthly reports detailing their companies’ response to all the false and misleading COVID-19 information circulating on their websites.
Twitter test asks you to open an article before you share it
Twitter is testing a feature on Android that asks if you want to read an article before you share it.
EU wants Facebook, Twitter to report monthly on fight against fake news
The EU wants Facebook, Google and Twitter to provide monthly reports on their fight against fake news.
Facebook will verify identities for suspiciously popular accounts
Facebook is now verifying IDs for profiles that have both suspicious behavior and posts that quickly go viral.
China reportedly spread COVID-19 misinformation
A report by The New York Times claims Chinese operatives helped spread false COVID-19 information via text and social media across the US.
Twitter clamps down on coronavirus hoaxes and fake ‘experts’
Twitter is ramping up its policies against coronavirus misinformation. The company will ban tweets perpetuating claims of fake cures and other specific information that could incite panic or harm official efforts to fight the pandemic. Under the policies, the company will require users to remove tweets that deny "expert guidance," promote "fake or ineffective treatments," or share "misleading content purporting to be from experts or authorities."
Twitter tests labeling and correcting misleading tweets from politicians
Twitter is testing a new feature that -- if implemented -- will prominently flag misleading tweets from politicians and other public figures, according to NBC News. As seen below, the feature adds red and orange badges to tweets the company has deemed "harmfully misleading," followed by information from verified fact-checkers and journalists.
Reddit bans 61 accounts linked to 'suspected campaign from Russia'
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn presented leaked documents to back claims that the British government put its NHS on the table as part of trade talks with the US. Earlier this week, network analysis firm Graphika Labs linked the leak of the documents and the posts on Reddit from a month before to techniques used by a Russian influence campaign on Facebook dubbed "Secondary Infektion" that had been uncovered in June. As DFR Labs described it "The operation's goal appears to have been to divide, discredit, and distract Western countries." According to The Guardian it's unclear how the documents ended up with the Labour Party, although they'd clearly been floating around and may have been the source of a report published in The Telegraph back in July, long before Corbyn showed them or they were posted on Reddit. Now, Reddit has announced that it went back to the original post and "along with indicators from law enforcement" linked it to a "pattern of coordinated behavior." As a result, it has banned the r/ukwhistleblower subreddit and 61 accounts from the platform, with their names published in a post so people can see which accounts are known to be involved.
Twitter reveals how it plans to address deepfakes
Twitter said last month it was working on ways to better to handle deepfakes. It just released draft guidelines on how to address the problem and it's looking for the public to weigh in and help shape policies on what it describes as "synthetic and manipulated media."
US sanctions two Russians for meddling in 2018 midterm elections
Today, the US Treasury sanctioned two Russian nationals accused of working for the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and attempting to meddle in the 2018 US midterm elections. The US has already sanction the IRA and a handful of its members. Now, Igor Nesterov, 34, and Denis Kuzmin, 28, have been added to the list.
Fake news campaigns are a growing global problem
Disinformation is a major threat to tech companies, society, even democracy -- and it's only getting worse. In 2019, disinformation campaigns occurred in at least 70 countries, a significant jump from 28 countries in 2017. That's according to a new report by researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University. The report reveals just how widespread the problem of internet-based false information and propaganda has become.
BBC, tech giants will fight fake news with an 'early warning system'
Tech companies know disinformation remains a major threat, and they're forming an alliance with a media giant to help fight the online spread of falsehoods. The BBC has partnered with Facebook, Google and Twitter on a strategy to fight fake news and other disinformation campaigns. The effort will include an "early warning system" that lets organizations tell each other when they find false content that "threatens human life or disrupts democracy." Ideally, this helps companies quickly neuter disinformation before it has much of a chance to spread.
NYU report lists likely social media disinformation tactics for 2020
The 2020 US presidential election will serve as the ultimate test for social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to prove they can combat fake news. But could they be fighting the last war? A report released by NYU's Stern Center for Business and Human Rights argues that relatively new tactics like domestic fake news operations, phony memes on Instagram and deepfake videos will play a bigger role in the next election.
YouTube pulls hundreds of channels tied to Hong Kong influence campaign
On Monday, both Twitter and Facebook announced they'd blocked accounts from China that were involved in disinformation attempts around protests in Hong Kong. Now YouTube revealed it has disabled 210 channels this week that "behaved in a coordinated manner while uploading videos related to the ongoing protests in Hong Kong." Google Security's Shane Huntley did not identify a source for the channels in the post, but said this discovery was "consistent" with Facebook and Twitter's actions related to China. YouTube told Reuters that unlike Twitter, it does not have any plan to change advertising policies for state-controlled media outlets, however it will soon expand labeling of state sponsored outlets to the region. Also unlike Twitter, it did not release any notes about the accounts or the contents of their posts, so we'll just have to speculate about what those channels looked like.
