Misinformation

Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, and Jack Dorsey will testify in a hearing on misinformation and disinformation on online platforms before US House lawmakers on March 25.

"Whether it be falsehoods about the Covid-19 vaccine or debunked claims of election fraud, these online platforms have allowed misinformation to spread, intensifying national crises with real-life, grim consequences for public health and safety," so the Committee's chairs. "For far too long, big tech has failed to acknowledge the role they’ve played in fomenting and elevating blatantly false information to its online audiences. Industry self-regulation has failed. We must begin the work of changing incentives driving social media companies to allow and even promote misinformation and disinformation."

Twitter flagged a tweed by President Donald Trump in which he claims to be immune to the new coronavirus. Twitter added a disclaimer to the post: "This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19."

The original post read: "A total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday. That means I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it. Very nice to know."

There has been a huge upswell of Twitter bot activity since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, amplifying medical disinformation and the push to reopen America.

Across US and foreign elections, natural disasters, and other politicized events, the level of bot involvement is normally between 10 and 20%, according to Kathleen M. Carley and her team at Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Informed Democracy & Social Cybersecurity.

In a new study, the researchers have found that bots may account for between 45 and 60% of Twitter accounts discussing Covid-19. Many of those accounts were created in February and have since been spreading and amplifying misinformation, including false medical advice, conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus, and pushes to end stay-at-home orders and reopen America.

Twitter announced the introduction of labels for accounts and tweets tied to government officials and "state-affiliated media."

In a blog post, the company says: "Twitter provides an unmatched way to connect with, and directly speak to public officials and representatives. This direct line of communication with leaders and officials has helped to democratize political discourse and increase transparency and accountability"

Russia Today (RT) was one of the first accounts to be labelled "affiliated media", with Twitter pointing the ties of the media outlet with the Russian Government.

Twitter suggested that these labels are part of a more significant effort "to protect that discourse because we believe political reach should be earned not bought."

WhatsApp added a new feature that makes it easier for users to verify whether the assertions made in forwarded messages they have received on the app are true. The new feature, called "Search the Web" works by allowing users to upload the message via their browser without WhatsApp ever seeing the message itself.

"Search the web" is being rolled out starting today in Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, UK, and US for those on the latest versions of WhatsApp for Android, iOS and WhatsApp Web.

Instagram flagged on Tuesday a video posted by Madonna as "False Information". The video, about hydroxychloroquine being a cure for Covid-19, spread the same misinformation as a clip that was previously taken down from Twitter after President Donald Trump shared it.

“This woman is my hero,” Madonna wrote in her post. “Thank you Stella Immanuel.”

The post, now deleted, appeared to Instagram users blurred with a warning over the video: "False Information.".

The lawyers and civil rights experts Laura Murphy and Megan Cacace have conducted and published a 100-page civil rights audit analyzing how Facebook treats hate speech and misinformation on the platform.

The report states that "it is important to acknowledge that the Civil Rights Audit was a substantive and voluntary process and that the company used the process to listen, plan and deliver on various consequential changes that will help advance the civil rights of its users".

Though the auditors state that Facebook failed "to grasp the urgency" of the problems which will have "direct and consequential implications" on the presidential elections of the United States in November adding that "Facebook has a long road ahead on its civil rights journey".

Facebook announced Wednesday the removal of 35 accounts, 14 Pages, 1 Group and 38 Instagram accounts that were involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior in Brazil. Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, Facebook investigation found links to individuals associated with the Social Liberal Party and some of the employees of the offices of Anderson Moraes, Alana Passos, Eduardo Bolsonaro, Flavio Bolsonaro and Jair Bolsonaro.

Fox News has removed from its website digitally doctored images of Seattle’s so-called “Autonomous Zone” after The Seattle Times reported on the misleading pictures.

The misleading material ran alongside stories about a small expanse of city blocks in Seattle that activists have claimed as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.

After the removal of the images, Fox News wrote on their site "Fox News regrets these errors.".

Twitter suspended 23,750 accounts that were posting pro-Beijing narratives, and another 150,000 dedicated to retweeting and amplifying those messages.

According to Twitter: "Despite the volume, the core 23,750 accounts we are publishing to the archive were largely caught early and failed to achieve considerable traction on the service, typically holding low follower accounts and low engagement. Of the approximately 150,000 amplifier accounts, the majority had little to no follower counts either and were strategically designed to artificially inflate impression metrics and engage with the core accounts."

Brazil's Senate is going to vote today a new law to criminalise the usage of fake accounts and bots on social networks.

The proposal, presented by senator Alessandro Vieira and representatives Felipe Rigoni and Tabata Amaral, establishes that platforms face sanctions if they don’t provide transparent reports, do not label bots, or don’t highlight corrections coming from independent fact-checkers.

Expressing concerns about the proposal, Flávia Lefèvre, a counselor of the Brazilian internet steering committee, stated: “All counsellors are overly concerned with this proposal. It could compromise one of the principles that are in the decalogue of the internet and in article 14 of [Brazil’s internet bill of rights], which is the non-liability of the network provider. This is a principle that guarantees freedom of expression and prevents censorship”.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at limiting the legal protection enjoyed by social media companies. the executive order comes two days after Twitter labelled two of his tweets "potentially misleading".

Twitter criticised the executive order on a statement late Thursday: "This EO is a reactionary and politicized approach to a landmark law. #Section230 protects American innovation and freedom of expression, and it’s underpinned by democratic values. Attempts to unilaterally erode it threatens the future of online speech and Internet freedoms."

President Jair Bolsonaro stated on Thursday that a Brazil's Supreme Court investigation into a fake news network was actually aimed at silencing his social media support.

Brazil's Federal Police on Wednesday executed more than two dozen searches and seizure warrants in six states as part of an investigation into a network that allegedly spread defamatory fake news and threats against Supreme Court justices.

In an interview with Fox News, Mark Zuckerberg criticised Twitter for its new fact-checking feature, stating “private companies probably shouldn’t be, especially these platform companies, shouldn’t be in the position of doing that". He furthermore added that he believes that "Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online".

In a serious of tweets, Twitter's Jack Dorsey responded to Zuckerberg, writing: "We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. [...] This does not make us an “arbiter of truth.” Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions."

Twitter added a fact-checking warning label to a tweet by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, and this is the first time the social media platform has used such a warning for Trump's tweets.

In two tweets, Trump alleged that mail-in ballots would be "substantially fraudulent" and result in a "Rigged Election.". Now both of the tweets have a label stating, "Get the facts about mail-in ballots." and a link leading to a page saying the president's tweets are not true.

Sleeping Giants Brasil, the Brazilian profile of the activists' organization Sleeping Giants reached 140,000 followers on Twitter since its launch less than a week ago.

The profile alerted local companies such as Dell, TIM Brasil, Telecine, Submarino, PicPay, Banco do Brasil, and Phillips about their programmatic media on sites spreading misinformation.