Monthly Archives: May 2022

security agencies need to re-strategise their efforts by partnering with NITDA and indigenous innovators to develop technological solutions to aid intelligence gathering and detection of fake news sources. The scourge of fake news and its attendant consequences should be tackled head-on to ensure the peaceful co-existence of all.

The rise of social media has offered numerous advantages, including the ability to make money, networking, and developing professionalism by breaking barriers, creating content, business growth, and other opportunities.

For these reasons, people around the globe have leveraged social media platforms as the most pervasive technological development in the world. Given the ease of citizen engagement, social media platforms have offered increased access to citizen participation.

Unfortunately, social media is also used for the spread of fake news and hate speech.

Fake news refers to the deliberate propagation of false information with the intent of causing harm to a persons reputation, manipulating peoples perception of real facts, inciting the populace against the government, and most disturbingly, causing mayhem in society.

There are numerous instances in which some netizens (users of the internet) have used social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram to cultivate disreputable means of gaining clout by fabricating stories without verifiable sources or facts. Sometimes these stories are propaganda by users with ill intentions or satirists mischievously creating disruptions to mislead the reader and serve selfish reasons that could be detrimental to society.

The first social media uproar that generated a massive wave of fake news was the #EndSARS protest in October 2020. This witnessed a mass movement of Nigerian youths online and street protests generating about 28 million tweets within a week. The protest erupted following weeks of outrage and anger with videos and pictures showing police brutality, harassment, and extortion in Nigeria.

It started as a peaceful protest but turned violent due to fake news that threw the nation into a state of anarchy.

Although evidence of abuse by SARS personnel surfaced, a variety of misleading information was also spread via social media platforms and other means by some sections of the masses that were angry and obsessed with provoking crisis using such incidents as a trigger.

The voluminous rumours spread in the heat of the #EndSARS protest prompted award-winning journalist and media strategist, Mohammed Dahiru Lawal, to compile the book titled 101 Fake News on EndSARSto inform the public on how social media fake news can turn peaceful protests into a national crisis.

The arrest of protesters in Abuja was debunked by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Commissioner of Police Bala Chiroma, also the rumour of a Katsina woman protesting against SARS, and most disturbing the alleged killing of a young man in Ughelli by SARS, which triggered the EndSARS protests across the nation, were all discovered to be fake news by persons and groups that manipulated images for ulterior motives.

For instance, the death of Oke Obi-Enadhuze, said to be killed by a policeman was debunked by his brother who clarified that he (the victim) was attacked by thugs. The arrest of protesters in Abuja was debunked by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Commissioner of Police Bala Chiroma, also the rumour of a Katsina woman protesting against SARS, and most disturbing the alleged killing of a young man in Ughelli by SARS, which triggered the EndSARS protests across the nation, were all discovered to be fake news by persons and groups that manipulated images for ulterior motives.

The recent condemnable jungle justice meted on Deborah Samuel, the 200-level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto over a blasphemous statement made via her WhatsApp group chat was another violent incident that engulfed the social media.

While blasphemous statements are disrespectful, offensive, inciteful, provocative, and frowned upon in every religion, it is also prudent to seek the advice of legal counsel in protesting this, instead of resorting to jungle justice.

However, the increasing incidence of fake news has triggered many reactions and could have triggered another wave of antagonism and mayhem throughout the nation.

Still grappling with calming angry youths in the heart of Sokoto, it became a challenge for some media outlets like PRNigeria to ensure that fake news does not have a say in propagating more religious violence that could affect law and order in state affairs.

According to a PRNigeria report on fake news, one of the false reports was shared by the Catholic Broadcast Commission Nigeria on its Facebook page, which has over 90,000 followers. The CBCN posted a story that the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukahs house was set ablaze by rioters.

The post read: Carnage in Sokoto today: Aftermath of violent protest in Sokoto today. Holy Family Catholic Cathedral, Bishop Kukahs house, and Catholic Pastoral Centre which were built with over N1 billion have been burnt down by hoodlums who are protesting the arrest of those who murdered Miss Deborah Yakubu.

However, Bishop Kukah debunked the claim, stating that no life was lost in the said riot. According to him, Contrary to information in circulation, we wish to disclaim that there was no attack of any sort on the residence of Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah.

Although detecting fake news remains a challenge, considering the time factor, labour, logistics, and technological resources, it is necessary to curtail its spread before it causes more carnage to lives and national development.

Meanwhile, there was another case of a trending video that claimed that Northerners were attacking Southerners living in those parts of the country.

But PRNigerias analysis of the comments and reactions under the post indicated that the claim was not accurate. Some responses to the tweet claimed that it was an old video of a suspected child trafficker who was arrested for abducting a child.

Beyond the fake news, the medium further noted that the attendant reactions are contributing to the hate speech that is further enraging already frayed nerves. Those expressing contrary views are being disparaged, threatened, or attacked.

Fake news peddlers creating parody accounts on social media during periods of crises is another warning to Nigerians. These social media accounts are often generated by ill-minded people who are impersonating high-profile personalities to take advantage of the situation to direct traffic to their blogs and incite crises for selfish motives.

Although detecting fake news remains a challenge, considering the time factor, labour, logistics, and technological resources, it is necessary to curtail its spread before it causes more carnage to lives and national development.

Thus, the exceptional works by other media platforms to curb the spread of fake news through fact-checking are commendable and should be sustained to foster peace and unity in the country.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) through its subsidiary the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, can help to develop more simplified and user-friendly fact-checking tools to enable people to detect or verify information broadcast over social media and traditional media. Also, it can utilise artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to identify and block fake or parody accounts on social media.

In addition, security agencies need to re-strategise their efforts by partnering with NITDA and indigenous innovators to develop technological solutions to aid intelligence gathering and detection of fake news sources. The scourge of fake news and its attendant consequences should be tackled head-on to ensure the peaceful co-existence of all.

Zeenat o. Sambo writes from Abuja; Zeenatsambo@yahoo.com.

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Curbing fake news and the excesses of social media, By Zeenat O. Sambo - Premium Times

Fake News, Internet Propaganda, and Philippine elections: 2016 to 2019 is a study presented in a#FactsFirstPHresearch briefing held on May 04, 2022. The full copy of the research is reposted with permissionfrom the authors.

This is Part 2 of a two-part paper on fake news and internet propaganda in the last 3 election cycles, including the upcoming 2022 general elections, which is the focus of this article. The full copy of the research is reposted with permissionfrom the authors.

Part 1: [ANALYSIS] Fake news, internet propaganda, and Philippine elections: 2016 to 2019

***

We found that fake news, though not new in Philippine elections, has its modern form rooted in the 2016 and 2019 elections. Between October 2018 and May 2019, Rappler reviewed 135 claims, 73 of which were rated as false, 40 as hoaxes, and 19 as misleading claims. These claims had accumulated a total of 4.36 million interactions, from which we argued that as many as 1.45 million people may have been exposed to fake news. Political claims dominated the shares of claims by typology, while Duterte was found to be the top topic or specific theme in the claims, joined by Noynoy Aquino, Otso Diretso, and Leni Robredo, among others in the top 10.

Finally, we found that fake news and misinformation had been effective for those favored candidates with strong social media presence. Now one would wonder how it would be in these upcoming 2022 national and local elections. Of note is the race for the presidency of the Philippines, where Vice President Leni Robredo and former Senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. are in a high stakes rematch from their 2016 vice presidential match.

We ended Part 1 in a bit of a cliffhanger, where we wondered how fake news would play out in the upcoming 2022 national and local elections, which would include elections for president and vice president of the Philippines.

Here in Part 2, we explore how fake news and internet propaganda looks like in the upcoming 2022 elections. We note how much different and similar 2022 is with 2019. We also take note of the historical background of the upcoming elections, especially in terms of the election for the Philippine presidency.

As noted earlier, the presidential race is a rematch, perhaps even a grudge match, between the two leading candidates as of the recent surveys: Marcos and Robredo.Robredo defeated Marcos in the 2016 vice presidential elections. The latter protested the result of the elections, and the Supreme Court, functioning as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, eventually dismissed the cases in a unanimous decision.

These upcoming elections are also said to be high stakes. Bongbong, son of the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, has been in the forefront of his familys attempts to revise history and reclaim the presidency of the Philippines for their family.

In 2019, it was found that a significant part of this attempt was the use of social media, particularly fake news and internet propaganda sent through coordinated amplification and their extensive network of anonymously managed pages and profiles.

Meanwhile, Robredo decided to run for the presidency as a response to the clamor of her supporters and her own conviction to end the incompetence, corruption, and culture of violence that had persisted under the Duterte regime. This was further prompted by the endorsement of the 1Sambayan opposition coalition, which moved to oppose President Rodrigo Duterte and his endorsed successor.

To measure the prevalence of fake news and their major themes during and around the 2022 election season, and to be as consistent with our earlier analysis as possible, we looked at Rapplers Fact Check articles published between October 2021 and March 2022.

The selected time similarly covered the months from the filing of candidacy to the campaign period of the 2022 elections. Furthermore, the currently available data ends on March 31, 2022, as of this writing.

To measure prevalence, interactions, or the sum of available likes, reactions, shares, retweets, views, and comments in each claim or article were used. For prevailing themes, keywords were considered. Note again that what would be recorded would be data from the time of the publication of the Rappler articles.

Looking at the current data, it would be rather obvious that fake news and internet propaganda have been stronger and more active than ever. Rappler studied 256 claims from October 2021 to March 2022. Of these claims, 207 of them were falsehoods, while 39 missed the contexts and nuances of their claims.

Facebook remained the top social media platform for misinformation, with 207 claims posted in the site, but it was now joined by YouTube and TikTok, which had 24 and 20 claims, respectively. Collectively, the claims garnered a total of about 67.48 million interactions. This was more than 15 times the interactions in the 2019 elections. Likewise, based on our estimation methodology, where we assume that interactions were divided equally between likes/reactions, shares/retweets/views, and comments, we can say that as much as 22.49 million people had been exposed to fake news.

Unsurprisingly, politics dominated the major themes, with 179 out of the 256 claims covered by Rappler and this study. Interestingly, besides the increase in the absolute number of claims, political claims experienced a 15.11% increase in their share of claims from 2019. These increases could be attributed to the time, the type of election, and the stakes involved.

Meanwhile, military and medical claims ranked next to political ones in terms of interactions, but this was expected as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic contributed much to the military and medical claims, respectively.

Moving now to the specific themes or topics, the 2022 elections, by itself, gained the greatest number of claims and interactions during the selected time. The next two topics were the two main presidential candidates, Robredo and Marcos. Looking at the tabulation alone may give the impression that Robredo had benefited more from fake news.

However, this is far from the truth, as virtually all the claims regarding Robredo were against her from accusations of bad campaign behavior to supposed support from communists. Meanwhile, those false claims regarding Marcos almost always painted him in a more positive light, such as claims on supposed wealth and academic achievement. This was further supported by the presence of false claims regarding his father, the late dictator Ferdinand, with such a range of claims as purported political and economic achievements during his regime.

Zooming in to the top individual claims by interactions, we found falsehoods on the Russia-Ukraine conflict occupying the top two spots, with the top claim garnering more than 8.7 million aggregate interactions. The next two spots were medical claims and, interestingly, neither were directly involved with the COVID-19 pandemic. The 5th placer claim was regarding Robredos supposed statements on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Although arguably classifiable as political because it involved Robredos name, it was classified under military since it pertained to an actual conflict.

Filtering then to focus on political claims, and the picture indicated a virtual clear focus on the upcoming elections, or at least the important actors therein. The Top 5 claims ranged from campaign chants supposedly present in a K-pop concert to one candidates failure to recall her first bill in Congress.

These claims might influence the upcoming elections. Ever since surveys began for the 2022 presidential elections, Marcos has consistently led surveys, even getting majorities in the latest Pulse Asia survey results, for example.

This is a clear indication that a Marcos Jr. presidency is possible, perhaps arguably highly probable. It has been argued that such a presidency would result in an authoritarian government that follows Dutertes template. Robredo, meanwhile, can be seen as being pincered in the internet campaigning and propaganda front. Not only were false claims in favor of Marcos effective, so were those against her.

Beyond the current elections, things look rather bleak. The current landscape of fake news and internet propaganda in the Philippines paints the country more and more as increasingly vulnerable to, and more easily persuaded by, fake news.

At the most pessimistic, the Philippines would slide to full blown authoritarianism fueled not by fear and force, but by lies and deceit. Politicians, especially the would-be incumbents in power, would have the license to lie, cheat, and steal not through coercion, but rather through unwitting consent as people would blindly and unquestioningly believe whatever these politicians would say despite how little truth there is. They can then sway the people to produce more falsehoods for them to either drum up support to otherwise unpopular policies, destroy or silence opponents, or even both.

The experience in the United States can also be a clue in an equally disturbing possibility: a nation fully partisan and bitterly divided, something that could be worse here due to the fragility of our institutions.

This is certainly not new. How many fell for the fascists and Nazis in Europe and Asia before and during the Second World War? What is novel and frightening however is the speed by which lies are made and propagated, and how fast the unwitting consent is formed and given. With the Filipinos penchant for social media immersion, this becomes more concerning.

So how do we stop fake news from affecting our democracy? Social media platforms, news media, and other fact-checking organizations have already gone as far as they can, but more work must be done. There are several public actions suggested, such as the mobilization of fandoms and their celebrities against disinformation.

But the first and most basic step is education not just for us, but for others as well. There is the need to learn and teach how to discern and think about what is being read or viewed, and check for other sources for confirmation. It is hoped that by our individual and collective efforts, truth would prevail. Rappler.com

Gerardo V. Eusebio has had extensive experience in public service, consultancy work, and academia. He has served in both the legislative and executive branches of government. He is currently the head of political marketing at Warwick and Roger and board director of Lilac Center for Public Interest and has been teaching political science, development, and history at various Philippine universities since 1992.

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[ANALYSIS] Fake news and internet propaganda, and the Philippine elections: 2022 - Rappler

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis said on Wednesday that Catholics today are living in an age of fake news, collective superstitions, and pseudo-scientific truths.

Reflecting on the Book of Ecclesiastes at his general audience on May 25, the Pope suggested that the 21st century was marked not only by scientific knowledge but also what he called a cultured witchcraft.

It is no coincidence that ours is the age of fake news, collective superstitions, and pseudo-scientific truths, he said.

Speaking off the cuff, he went on: Its curious: in this culture of knowledge, of knowing everything, even of the precision of knowledge, a lot of witchcraft has spread, but cultured witchcraft.

It is witchcraft with a certain culture but that leads you to a life of superstition: on the one hand, to go forward with intelligence in knowing things down to the roots; on the other hand, the soul that needs something else and takes the path of superstitions, and ends up in witchcraft.

The Pope used the Italian word stregoneria, which can be translated as witchcraft, sorcery, or black magic.

Pope Francis general audience in St. Peters Square, May 25, 2022. Daniel Ibez/CNA.

The Popes live-streamed catechesis was the 11th in a cycle on old age that he began in February. He entered St. Peters Square in a white jeep, stopping to invite children in brightly colored clothes to join him for part of his journey among the pilgrims.

The jeep drove up to a raised platform in front of St. Peters Basilica, where the 85-year-old was helped to exit the vehicle and walk up to the white chair where he gave his address. The Pope, who has made public appearances in a wheelchair since May 5 due to knee pain, used a walking stick.

In his reflection, Pope Francis focused on the famous refrain in Ecclesiastes also known as the Book of Qoheleth that everything is vanity.

It is surprising to find in Holy Scripture these expressions that question the meaning of existence, he said. In reality, Qoheleths continuous vacillation between sense and non-sense is the ironic representation of an awareness of life that is detached from the passion for justice, of which Gods judgment is the guarantor.

And the books conclusion points the way out of the trial: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man (12:13). This is the advice to resolve this problem.

Pope Francis said that old age brought the challenge of disenchantment, which had to be resisted because of its demoralizing effects.

If the elderly, who have seen it all by that time, keep intact their passion for justice, then there is hope for love, and also for faith, he said.

And for the contemporary world, the passage through this crisis, a healthy crisis, has become crucial. Why? Because a culture that presumes to measure everything and manipulate everything also ends up producing a collective demoralization of meaning, a demoralization of love, a demoralization of goodness.

The Pope said that collective demoralization sapped humanitys will to act.

In this form cloaked in the trappings of science, but also very insensitive and very amoral the modern quest for truth has been tempted to take leave of its passion for justice altogether. It no longer believes in its destiny, its promise, its redemption, he commented.

For our modern culture, which would like, in practice, to consign everything to the exact knowledge of things, the appearance of this new cynical reason that combines knowledge and irresponsibility is a harsh repercussion.

Indeed, the knowledge that exempts us from morality seems at first to be a source of freedom, of energy, but soon turns into a paralysis of the soul.

Pope Francis said that the Book of Ecclesiastes captured this dynamic, in which an omnipotence of knowledge leads to an impotence of the will.

He noted that the early Church described this condition as acedia, which he said was not simply laziness or depression, but the surrender to knowledge of the world devoid of any passion for justice and consequent action.

He said: The emptiness of meaning and lack of strength opened up by this knowledge, which rejects any ethical responsibility and any affection for the real good, is not harmless.

It not only takes away the strength for the desire for the good: by counterreaction, it opens the door to the aggressiveness of the forces of evil.

These are the forces of reason gone mad, made cynical by an excess of ideology.

The Pope noted that weariness was a hallmark of contemporary society.

We were supposed to have produced widespread well-being and we tolerate a market that is scientifically selective with regard to health, he said.

We were supposed to have put an insuperable threshold for peace, and we see more and more ruthless wars against defenseless people.

Science advances, of course, and that is good. But the wisdom of life is something else entirely, and it seems to be stalled.

Concluding his address, Pope Francis urged the elderly to help combat demoralization.

They will be the ones to sow the hunger and thirst for justice in the young, he said.

Take courage, all of us older people! Take courage and go forward! We have a very great mission in the world.

But, please, we must not seek refuge in this somewhat non-concrete, unreal, rootless idealism let us speak clearly in the witchcraft of life.

A summary of the Popes catechesis was then read out in seven languages.

Addressing English-speaking Catholics, he said: I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in todays Audience, especially those from Nigeria, Lebanon, and the United States of America.

In the joy of the Risen Christ, I invoke upon you and your families the loving mercy of God our Father. May the Lord bless you!

In his closing remarks, Pope Francis lamented a school shooting in Texas.

A gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, southwest Texas, on May 24, killing at least 19 children and two adults.

The Pope said: My heart is broken for the massacre at the elementary school in Texas. I am praying for the children and the adults killed and their families.

It is time to say enough to the indiscriminate trafficking of weapons. Let us all work hard so that such tragedies can never happen again.

His words were greeted with applause by pilgrims.

Originally posted here:

Pope Francis: Ours is the Age of Fake News, Collective Superstitions, and Pseudo-Scientific Truths - National Catholic Register

It was a Florida law so what do you expect?

A Florida law intended to punish social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter for not treating the words of right-wing politicians as if they were spoken by Jesus has been ruled unconstitutional.

GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis was apparently miffed that conservative politicians were not allowed to say what they like on social media and were being asked to prove their claims before opening their mouths.

A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously concluded that it was overreach for DeSantis and the Republican-led Florida Legislature to tell the social media companies how to conduct their work under the Constitution's free speech guarantee.

"Put simply, with minor exceptions, the government can't tell a private person or entity what to say or how to say it," said Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom.

Newsom should have been a little bit sympathetic to the law he was an appointee of former President Donald Trump. However, it would appear that in the US, company rights are even more important than those of right-wing politicians.

Newsom wrote: "We hold that it is substantially likely that social media companies -- even the biggest ones -- are private actors whose rights the First Amendment protects."

The ruling upholds a similar decision by a Florida federal district judge on the law, which was signed by DeSantis in 2021.

It was part of an overall conservative effort to portray social media companies as communists who were and hostile to right-wing ideas.

Florida has had some bizarre laws which managed to get through. In Florida it is illegal to:

1. Shower naked.

2. Live with a person of the opposite sex who is not a family member.

3. Sing in a swimsuit

4. Imitate the sound of a wild animal

5. Roll a barrel down the street.

6.Hang your clothes on a clothesline.

7.Eat cottage cheese after 6pm on Sundays

If you steal a horse in Florida you can still be hanged for it.

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Move to turn Facebook and Twitter into right-wing fake news outfits unconstitutional - Fudzilla

The City of Welland says it appears the record has been set straight over a fake news release that circulated on social media over the weekend.

The fictitious post said the former John Deere lands in Dain City, as well as east of the property, were to be used to backfill a section of the old Welland Canal for residential and commercial development.

On Thursday, the citys corporate communications manager, Marc MacDonald, said the phony post no longer seems to be generating calls from the public.

The confusion seems to have been cleared after staff and council responded to residents and an official city statement went out, said MacDonald.

MacDonald said the person (or persons) responsible for the false claims has not yet been identified.

Niagara Regional Police were never asked to probe the matter, he said.

We will continue to monitor social media for this type of misinformation and correct when possible, he said.

In addition to using a template that made the communique look official, city logos were added along with a map and two photos.

The area, used by South Niagara Rowing Club, is still a navigable waterway because its connected to the working Welland Canal.

Empire Communities is poised to construct as many as 2,000 homes in the area, including more than 1,400 slated for the Dain East subdivision, north of Forks Road and east of the former John Deere lands.

The rest are for the Dain West subdivision, fronting Canal Bank Street on the property of the factory that closed in 2009.

In the Dain East subdivision, the first to be built, three parks will be constructed including one overlooking the working Welland Canal along with 2.5 kilometres of trails.

The Dain West subdivision will feature two parks, four kilometres of trails and land for possibly a Catholic elementary school.

Empire Communities has committed $10 million toward replacement of the Forks Road bridge, which was 88 years old when it was decommissioned in 2018 and demolished the following year.

The city will contribute $5 million, with more than $4.1 million coming the federal and provincial governments.

The developer is also paying for most of a multi-use sports park behind Welland International Flatwater Centre, covering $2.75 million of its $3-million price tag, along with $300,000 from Canadian Tire Jumpstart.

The developers investment into the city is estimated to be up to $21 million.

With files from Dave Johnson

Read more from the original source:

'Confusion seems to have cleared' over fake 'news release' about Welland Canal being filled in - Welland Tribune