To be or not to be?
The former deputy Prime Minister of the UK, Sir Nick Clegg, said that there is “absolutely no evidence” that Russia influenced the Brexit result using Facebook. In response, Damian Collins, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, tweeted that Sir Nick was wrong, quoting a link to the research carried out by a communications agency.
Elections elections..
Last week, EU DisinfoLab and ISD Global hosted a webinar analysing Propaganda and Manipulation during the EU elections. You can read the summary article here. The latest report of the German Marshall Fund of the United States has stated that the EU elections were a prime target of authoritarian attacks on democracy.
Platforms’ actions
Facebook has released a report summarising all of the feedback on the Content Moderation Board received through recent conversations, workshops, round tables and public proposals. It is important to note that in November 2018, the platform announced the creation of an independent oversight body to adjudicate appeals on content moderation issues. Within the last week, the platform agreed to hand over the identification data of French users suspected of hate speech on its platform to judges. This decision comes at the moment of negotiations between state authorities on the French law relating to the moderation of online hate speech. Moreover, Facebook Newsroom has announced it will offer greater transparency for social issues, electoral or political ads in more countries. On the other side, Twitter has introduced a new notice that will provide for additional clarity, defining public interest on the platform.
Library
- According to ForeignPolicy Magazine, the victory of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu in the Taiwanese presidential elections was orchestrated by a mysterious – seemingly professional – cybergroup from China.
- Google’s new media literacy program teaches kids how to spot disinformation and fake news.
- Cryptocurrencies backed by big internet companies could come under the scrutiny of antitrust regulators, according to the head of Germany’s Federal Cartel Office.
- Italy’s data protection watchdog has issued Facebook with a €1 million fine for violations of local privacy law attached to the Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal.
Calendar and announcements
- The MIT Technology Review has announced its list of 35 innovators under 35. Camille François, Chief Innovation Officer at Graphika, was nominated for using data science to detect disinformation and organized harassment campaigns. Camille was one of the keynote speakers at the EU Disinfolab 2019 annual conference. Congratulations Camille!
- A new project on developing knowledge-based European journalism relating to Europe’s neighbours, delivered by the College of Europe in Natolin. Registrations are now open.
