"The OECD convened a first-of-its kind international partnership on behavioural science and misinformation between the Canadian and the French governments to develop and disseminate behaviourally-informed and evidence-based solutions that can guide government response to misinformation. The study te
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sted 1,872 Canadians’ intentions to share false COVID-related headlines online with two behavioural interventions: an accuracy evaluation prompt and digital media literacy prompt. The data generated by this partnership show that the digital media literacy tips reduced intentions to share fake news online by 21% compared to the control group – having the greatest impact on online users. These insights can enable policy makers to enact measures that defend and empower online users against environments designed to exploit certain natural but maladaptive tendencies and place the control back into the hands of online users. Relying solely on traditional top-down approaches that aim to regulate content are insufficient at limiting the immediate dangers of misinformation. Innovative policy-making tools such as behavioural science can help provide immediate and long-term solutions to misinformation and should be considered as part of a holistic and comprehensive strategy to offset the threats of misinformation. Governments should conduct rigorous policy experiments in collaboration with other countries, like the one presented here, before enacting policy that affects a larger population to address the crossborder nature of misinformation." (Key policy messages, page 4)
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"The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 76/227. In it, the Secretary-General describes the challenges posed by disinformation and the responses to it, sets out the relevant international legal framework and discusses measures that States and technology enterprises re
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ported to have taken to counter disinformation. The Secretary-General notes that countering the different manifestations of disinformation requires addressing underlying societal tensions, fostering respect for human rights, online and offline, and supporting a plural civic space and media landscape." (Summary)
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"This study examined (a) what message variations characterize news articles that fact-check (mis)information (N¼914) and (b) how those message features shape audience engagement with the articles. The study content-analyzed fact-checking coverage from major news outlets in South Korea using both ma
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nual and computerized coding, focusing on three categories of message characteristics: source transparency, contextual information, and vividness. The content-analysis data were examined in relation to behavioral data of audience engagement (“like” and “angry” reactions, shares, and comments) on Naver News, the most popular news portal in South Korea. Using statistics and official reports as evidence and specifying when the claim at hand was made facilitated audience engagement behaviors. News articles triggered more audience comments when they (a) mentioned the importance of fact-checking the claim under scrutiny, and (b) conveyed negative content. Findings are discussed in light of the empirical and practical implications of the current efforts to fight “fake news” by news media." (Abstract)
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"This study addresses the expansion of Brazilian fact-checking enterprises, focusing on their funding sources and challenges to ensure editorial autonomy. The research is mainly grounded in semi-structured interviews with 16 fact-checkers from 13 active organizations, and includes complementary data
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collected from the initiatives’ websites. The findings show that the organizational milieu in which fact-checking firms flourish influences their revenue streams. Fact-checkers face different economic and editorial challenges depending on their organizational environment. Nevertheless, their chief business strategy to gain economic viability mainly translates into a solid presence on digital platforms. It involves reaching niche markets on social media and attracting users to their websites. Last, the limited staff of most fact-checking initiatives and their growing dependence on big tech money have led them to modularize their corrections to different platforms and publish debunking at the expense of political fact-checking. In short, this study contributes to the growing scholarship on fact-checking by evidencing that this professional reform movement is dealing with power dynamics familiar to the journalism they want to reform." (Abstract)
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"Social media have led to profound transformations in the media ecosystem and new communication dynamics. Such platforms have become a competitive source of information and played a decisive role in facilitating the dissemination of false or misleading content, with a particular impact on recent ele
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ctions. This study analyses the formats and the spread of disinformation during Brazil’s 2018 election on social media, considering the countermeasures adopted that year by the platforms to reduce its circulation. Disinformation occupies a central space in the public debate in Brazil, where there is massive use of social media. Based on a content analysis of the 153 false or misleading narratives most shared during the campaign period, the results show that contents changed formats to overcome platforms’ countermeasures. Results also highlight a majority of images and a blend of false and accurate information that reshape the phenomenon definition and suggests the inefficacy of current regulations." (Abstract)
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"Populist politicians increasingly accuse opposing media of spreading disinformation or “fake news.” However, empirical research on the effects of these accusations is scarce. This survey experiment (N = 1,330) shows that disinformation accusations reduce audience members’ trust in the accused
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news outlet and perceived accuracy of the news message, while trust in the accusing politician is largely unaffected. However, only individuals with strong populist attitudes generalize disinformation accusations to the media as an institution and reduce their general media trust. The phrase “fake news” does not amplify any of these effects. These findings suggest that politicians can undermine the credibility of journalism without much repercussion—a mechanism that might also threaten other authoritative information sources in democracies such as scientists and health authorities." (Abstract)
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"In this article, a theoretical model on the detection of deepfakes by ordinary citizens is introduced. The authors conducted three studies in which deepfakes with political content were presented. The deepfakes showed UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson or Barack Obama. In the deepfake videos, the
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two politicians said things they had never said in real life. The authors expected that people who regularly and automatically reflect on information they see (analytic thinking) are more likely to identify deepfakes correctly than people who tend to be less reflective, more intuitive. The authors further expected that interest in politics is positively related to detecting political deepfakes. Indeed, the higher participants’ scores on analytic thinking (Studies 1-2) and political interest (Study 1), the better participants identified the deepfakes. Moreover, people with high analytic thinking and political interest were better at identifying a fake news article to be inaccurate (whether or not a warranting deepfake video was presented, Study 3). It is discussed how researchers, everyday people, and whole societies can deal with deepfakes." (Lay summary)
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"Through this research we gained insight into tactics employed by state-backed social media disinformation. With that goal, we explored user interactions with inauthentic Twitter accounts. We used multiple procedures to measure the ways in which users talked with and about the accounts employed by t
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he Russian-affiliated Internet Research Agency in the month before the 2016 U.S. Election. We found that users were overwhelming supportive of the IRA accounts, a fact that calls into question the standard representation of these accounts as “trolls.” Users were particularly supportive of the accounts that pretended to be part of a particular ideological group (on both the left and right), supporting arguments that a strategy of building connections with like-minded people was central to the IRA campaign. This strategy seems to work—on days that the Russian accounts received more support they also received more engagement." (Lay summary)
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"We propose deception as a bridging concept that will enhance the study of misinformation, disinformation, and misperceptions. As we set it out here, the concept integrates insights from multiple social science disciplines and uniquely connects actors’ intentions, information, and attitudinal or b
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ehavioral outcomes. A focus on deception will enrich research that describes the existence of false and misleading information but stops short of identifying their influence. Equally, through its focus on how actors’ deceptive strategies are important in attempts to exercise power, it can augment the study of the cognitive and attitudinal biases that render people susceptible to misperceptions. We identify the main themes in the study of deception: media-systemic distortions in information supply; the relational interactions that both produce and activate cognitive biases; and the attributes, strategies, and techniques of deceptive entities. We conclude with a summary typology of 10 principal variables and their 57 focal indicators." (Abstract)
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"China is accused of conducting disinformation campaigns on Taiwan's social media. Existing studies on foreign interventions in democratic societies predict that such disinformation campaigns should lead to increasing partisan polarization within Taiwan. We argue that a backlash effect, making Taiwa
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n's citizens more united against China, is equally plausible. We conduct a survey experiment exposing participants to a real-life rumour and rebuttal to test these competing hypotheses. We find, at best, mixed evidence for polarization. Although neither rumour nor rebuttal mention China, there is consistent evidence of backlash against China. Most notably, participants across the political spectrum are more inclined to support Taiwanese independence after viewing the rumour rebuttal. These findings indicate that citizens may put aside partisanship when confronted with false news that is plausibly linked to an external actor. We conclude by discussing the broader applicability of our theory and implications for cross-Strait relations." (Abstract)
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"In the midst of heated debates surrounding the veracity and honesty of communication, scholarly attention has turned to the conceptualization of mis- and disinformation on the supply-side of (political) communication. Yet, we lack systematic research on the conceptualization of perceived mis- and d
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isinformation on the demand-side. Original survey data collected in ten European countries (N = 6,643) shows that news consumers distinguish general misinformation from disinformation. Yet, the high correlation between the two dimensions indicates that disinformation perceptions may be regarded as a sub-type of misinformation perceptions in which intentional deception is a core element. This paper aims to make a contribution to the misinformation and media credibility literature by proposing a first conceptualization of perceived untruthfulness corresponding to increasing levels of cynicism and skepticism toward the factual status and honesty of information." (Abstract)
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"Fake News" sind aus privaten wie politischen Unterhaltungen nicht mehr wegzudenken und erfahren mit der omnipräsenten Nutzung digitaler Kommunikationskanäle eine geradezu inflationäre Verbreitung. Die Beiträger*innen diskutieren vor dem Hintergrund verschiedener Disziplinen der Humanities Forme
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n und Folgen von Wissens- und Informationsvermittlung, Wahrheitsreduktion und Wirklichkeitsbeschneidung sowie Täuschung und Beeinflussung der öffentlichen Meinung. Sie erschließen den Begriff aus einer interdisziplinären und diachronen Perspektive und eröffnen Einsichten in die verschiedenen Bedeutungsnuancen des Phänomens." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This Technical Document is the result of a collaboration between EU DisinfoLab and #ShePersisted. It offers a short and practical toolbox of what should be considered when speaking of gender-based disinformation." (Page 3)
"This paper examines responses to disinformation, in particular those involving automated tools, from a human rights perspective. It provides an introduction to current automated content moderation and curation practices, and to the interrelation between the digital information ecosystem and the phe
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nomenon of disinformation. The paper concludes that an unwarranted use of automation to govern speech, in particular highly context-dependent disinformation, is neither in line with states’ positive obligation to protect nor with intermediaries’ responsibility to respect human rights. The paper also identifies required procedural and remedial human rights safeguards for content governance, such as transparency, user agency, accountability, and independent oversight. Though essential, such safeguards alone appear insufficient to tackle COVID-19 online disinformation, as highly personalized content and targeted advertising make individuals susceptible to manipulation and deception. Consequently, this paper demonstrates an underlying need to redefine advertising- and surveillance-based business models and to unbundle services provided by a few dominant internet intermediaries to sustainably address online disinformation." (Abstract)
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"This study discusses how and to what extent peace operations are affected by digital disinformation and how international organisations (UN, EU, OSCE and NATO) as mandating bodies for peace operations have responded to limit the effect of disinformation or even prevent it. Based on this assessment
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of the current situation, the study identifies areas in need of action and suggests options for peace operations. These focus on four areas [Situational awareness; Response; Resilience; Cooperation] and include both short- and long-term measures." (Introduction)
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"In 2022, internet penetration and social platform usage reached an all-time high – 43.4% of the total population who use the internet are youth aged between 15-24 years. Youth voters have explicitly become a major target of political parties and their campaign messages. We can expect social media
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and online campaigns to be deployed by political parties, sometimes at an expense of authenticity, to reach out to these young voters. However, legal and non-legal measures implemented to date have yet to effectively address disinformation. Hence, youth and other voters remain potentially exposed to the risk of online manipulation during the election. This baseline study identifies the risks from 5 recurring patterns of disinformation related to: sexual orientation and promiscuity; corruption; electoral integrity; women politicians and foreign interference. The 2022 Johor Bahru State Election confirms this trend. To mitigate disinformation and build trust in the electoral system and process, Asia Centre has complied some recommendations for key stakeholders in educational institutions, the election commission, government, media, NGOs, political parties, technology companies and youth groups who can implement them as practical safeguards to ensure that first-time and other voters are not subjected to manipulation through disinformation campaigns." (Conclusion, page 34)
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"The actions to be developed are distributed in three axes: (i) Inform, aimed at the dissemination of official, reliable and quality information; (ii) Empower, aimed at media literacy and training the whole of society to understand the phenomenon of disinformation and the functioning of the electora
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l process; and (iii) Respond, related to the identification of cases of disinformation and the adoption of strategies, both preventive and repressive, to contain its negative effects. For the 2022 electoral cycle, the first axis has five projects with their own purposes and goals. They are: (i) mass dissemination network of truthful and official information about elections and the Electoral Justice; (ii) chatbot – electoral queries on WhatsApp; (iii) access, dissemination and enhancement of the scope of fact checking on the electoral process; (iv) deepening electoral transparency; (v) development and improvement of other technological tools and digital channels to disseminate true and quality information. In this strategic point, the Court’s action is guided by the preferential position of freedom of expression, in the legal system, by encouraging plurality of information. Likewise, information actions meet the recommendations for “prophylactic” prebunking actions (that is, strategies to reduce citizens’ susceptibility to disinformation by exposing examples of how disinformation operates). The second axis, in turn, includes seven initiatives: (i) training for internal and external audiences on disinformation, on the integrity of Brazilian elections and on the fundamentality of the Electoral Justice as an institution that guarantees democracy; (ii) prevention of the mental health of members, agents and collaborators of the Electoral Justice who deal directly with actions to contain disinformation; (iii) training the internal and external public on the electoral process, including the functions performed by it in the context of the democratic rule of Law; (iv) awareness campaigns on disinformation and media and information education actions for the external public; (v) cooperation and actions to enhance reaching partners’ media and information literacy initiatives; (vi) dialog with political parties and party federations to make them aware of their responsibility in the context of fighting against disinformation; (vii) support to other public institutions to implement actions to confronting disinformation. Finally, the response axis encompasses eight projects: (i) permanent coalition for verification; (ii) engagement of digital platforms and their technological resources in confronting structured networks of disinformation and inauthentic behavior; (iii) reporting channel for mass shooting of content in partnership with WhatsApp; (iv) creating a network to monitor disinformation practices against the electoral process; (v) containment of disinformation on Telegram; (vi) partnership and dialog with the Federal Police and the Electoral Prosecutor Office; (vii) Strategic Cyberintelligence Committee and (viii) review and elaboration of norms that acts against the practice of disinformation in the Electoral Justice, as a way of preventing the phenomenon in question. Concerning to this point, the planning met the parameters of timely response, appreciation of fact checking, importance of engagement and transparency of platforms, as well as the expansion and improvement of channels for complaints." (Presentation, page 5-6)
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"The Digital Enquirer Kit is an e-learning course focused on preventing the spread of misinformation. The course covers media literacy, verification, as well as how to navigate the internet and research safely. This e-learning course was written for civil society activists, human rights defenders, i
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nvestigators, citizen journalists, and consumers of online information and media—so-called ‘Digital Enquirers’. The course contains simple explanations and real-world examples, illustrating secure research and information-gathering methods. The modules feature engaging and creative formats such as tutorials, quizzes, and interactive games." (Page 3)
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"In light of the role played by state-aligned actors, the private sector and lawmakers in countries with strong democratic institutions should adopt policies that mitigate the ability of state actors to manipulate AI and weaponize communication platforms. Efforts to combat disinformation must recogn
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ize that a range of private companies beyond just tech firms are implicated in information manipulation and must put safeguards in place. For example, registration and financing limits on paid PR firms, domestic and foreign, and better oversight by tech platforms on how their platforms are used by state actors is essential. Furthermore, greater transparency about all types of advertising and paid content promotion is needed, not just about political advertising in a handful of Western countries. This could be implemented through existing election laws and paid advertising regulations [...] Any meaningful efforts to combat disinformation will need to address the politicization of social media manipulation and influence operations, and their integration into electoral politics. Lawmakers should implement restrictions on the use of moderation mercenaries, black PR firms, and social media manipulation by those entrusted with public office. Countries should not only require great transparency for the platforms themselves, but should also practice what they preach by adopting transparency requirements for state and government entities related to advertising and outreach on social media and messaging platforms. Tech platforms must reduce the profitability of intentional and opportunistic disinformation efforts, including by reducing the prevalence and ease of plagiarism or the “recycling” of news content for clickbait. Reducing the economic incentives for click-bait, "churnalism", and regurgitated journalistic content would help deter the profit-driven non-ideological actors in these disinformation networks." (Conclsuions and recommendations, page 24-25)
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"Publication and dissemination of harmful content are constituted as criminal offenses according to Indonesian regulation. Consequently, all harmful content could be criminally prosecuted [...] Several terms used in the regulations are too broad (e.g., morality, public order, etc.) and may cause mul
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tiple interpretations, misinterpretations, and controversy [...] Indonesia is adopting a punitive approach of online content regulation [...] Trends and concerns: disparity in harmful content regulation between government ...; neglect and transparency ...; regulations on content disproportionately affect the marginalized community." (Key findings, page iv-vi)
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