Category Archives: Fake News

JUAN DAZ-FAES

After a poor nights sleep, which saw him have a few nightmares and wake several times, Ramn starts the day by looking at the headlines on his cellphone. Two years ago, he would seek out the latest data on the coronavirus pandemic, but now he is consumed by the war in Ukraine. He surfs another two or three media outlets, to see if he has missed any details about the catastrophe.

While he is eating his breakfast, his mind is filled with images of bodies covered with blankets, death tolls, the wounded and refugees. Disheartened, he asks himself what else could possibly happen. Later he checks his phone again, this time to look at whats happening with his pension plan. His savings have fallen more than 5% due to the instability.

Ramn is under a black cloud for the rest of the day. He cant see the light in a world thats dominated by chaos and cruelty. Throughout the day, he checks the news five or six more times, only to feel helpless on seeing that things in Ukraine are the same or worse. He has one last look at his cellphone before going to bed, something that will not help him sleep well.

This is the routine that millions of people follow every day, and that was dubbed doomscrolling or doomsurfing during the pandemic. It could be defined as an addiction to bad news. While knowing what is happening in the world can be an act of empathy and compassion, if checking the news becomes an obsession, psychological distress can take root.

Tali Sharot, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London, explains that overloading ourselves with negative news raises stress levels and leads us to make rash decisions. In the words of the author of The Influential Mind, that mental state sees us cancel trips, even though the terrorist attack took place in another part of the world; shares are sold, even when holding onto them is the best option; and reckless political campaigns attract followers, even if they bear no relation to reality.

But everybody can seek a balance between so-called infoxication and the voluntary ignorance of a hermit. Here are three measures that help with a healthy mind, without having to live in the dark.

1. Stop doomscrolling. If your regular reading of the newspaper in print or online is within a certain timetable, our minds will find it easier to assimilate the latest developments and separate what we have seen from our activities during the rest of the day. The habit of looking at the news when we have a free moment can be substituted with reading the less-alarming sections of a daily, such as sport and culture, or an e-book for relaxation. Looking at shocking news just before bed should be discouraged.

2. Protect yourself against fake news. On social media and messaging apps, there are all kinds of dubious information and videos. In the early stages of the invasion of Ukraine, many people thought that images of Russian troop movements that came from the videogame ARMA 3 were real.

3. Measure the effect that bad news has on us. Everyone has a different sensitivity to images or news with a high emotional impact. There are those who can disconnect from the content they have just consumed and move on to another activity, and then there are those who are more emotional and can end up in a state of anxiety and sadness for the rest of the day.

Here, each person needs to be their own doctor and decide on the dose of bad news that they can take on without coming apart at the seams. If necessary, conversations that only serve to raise our alarms and make us feel worse should be avoided. All things considered, we need to be as together as possible to compensate for the disasters in the world, each doing our bit in daily life for peace.

As well as choosing and rationing the information we consume, we can counterbalance the bad news with small initiatives that promote understanding and solidarity.

A century ago, psychiatrist and educator Maria Montessori warned that the seed of violence is planted when there is lack of education. Everyone talks about peace but no one educates for peace. In this world, they educate for competition, and competition is the beginning of any war, she said.

This work is not just limited to the classroom. It can be fomented in our day-to-day lives via the topics of conversation that we choose and the way we treat others.

English version by Simon Hunter.

See the article here:

From cutting back on doomscrolling to avoiding fake news: How to protect your mental health in times of war - EL PAS in English

FACEBOOK is rolling out new features to counter misinformation and enhance user safety.

The social media giant on Wednesday said that it would launch new features aimed at bettering the user experience of Group admins, according to a new press release.

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The new features are meant to identify and reduce the spread of false information, lessen admin workload, and help users to manage and grow their groups.

One of the most notable tools rolling out this week is the ability to automatically reject incoming posts that contain misinformation, using Admin Assist.

"Incoming posts that contain content rated by third-party fact-checkers as false are declined before they are seen in the group, which helps reduce the visibility of misinformation," Maria Smith, VP of Communities, Facebook App, said.

A second important feature includes an improvement of the mute functionality, which has evolved to suspend, so admins and moderators can temporarily prohibit group members from engaging within the forum this includes posting, commenting, reacting, participating in group chats, and creating or entering a Room in the group.

"Communities can only thrive as places to connect when they are safe. These new tools will help admins prevent the spread of misinformation and manage interactions in their group," Smith said.

Another new tool within Admin Assist helps admins automatically decline or approve group members based on specific criteria and even group questionnaires.

As a way to help admins better manage their groups, there are also new updates to Admin Home, including an overview page on desktop for a quicker reviewal process, and a more organized layout.

On mobile, users can find a new insights summary that displays and assesses the group's growth and engagement.

Facebook further revealed new features for admins "who want to grow their communities by reaching the relevant people."

One of these tools includes new QR codes to streamline the process of sharing their group's About page.

Admins can access the QR codes from the Share dropdown menu, where they can either download or copy and paste them.

A second feature includes giving admins the ability to send group invites to people via email.

Read more from the original source:

Facebook launches new fake news tool that TOTALLY changes the app... - The US Sun

Royal correspondent Richard Palmer who covered Prince William and Kate Middleton's visit to Ukrainian Cultural Centre has apologized for incorrect remarks attributed to the Duke of Cambridge.

Prince William is currently under fire after a purported video of his remarks about the war in Ukraine surfaced.

Royal correspondent Richard Palmer said William doesnt appear to have compared it to conflicts in Africa and Asia.

The journalist associated with UK's Daily Express said the remarks made by Duke were misheard and ended up starting a social media storm.

Earlier it was reported that during a visit to the Ukrainian Cultural Centre William said: Everyone is horrified by what they are seeing. The news every day, its almost unfathomable. For our generation, its very alien to see this in Europe. Were all right behind you.

Meanwhile, a statement said Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton will visit the 1st Battalion Irish Guards at the St Patrick's Day Parade, Mons Barracks in Aldershot on March 17.

The visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be their first time at the parade since the start of the pandemic.

Here is the original post:

Prince William criticised over fake news - The News International

Poland has made it clear that it will not send any fighter jets to Ukraine, underscoring considerable ambiguity over the scope of the European Unions military assistance to Kyiv.

On CBSs Face the Nation, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated that the US is engaging with the Poles and discussing the entire matter with the rest of NATO countries.

We are also working on the capabilities we could provide to backfill Poland if it decided to transfer planes to Ukraine, he added.

On March 6, Blinken told reporters during his visit to Moldova, We are looking actively now at the question of airplanes that Poland may provide to Ukraine and looking at how we might be able to backfill should Poland decide to supply those planes.I cant speak to a timeline but I can just say were looking at it very, very actively, he added.

Previously, Bulgaria and Slovakia ruled out the transfer of military planes to Ukraine. Politico reported that the discussions are now focused on Warsaw and center around the US sending American-built jets to replace the MiG-29s.

The Polish government, in contrast to Blinkens statement, appeared to take a divergent stand on the issue. In a tweet, the Chancellery of the Polish Prime Minister rejected rumors that the country is in talks with the US to backfill its fighter plane fleet if Warsaw decides to deliver its MiG-29s to Kyiv.

On March 1, Polish President Andrzej Duda stated that his country will not send any jets to Ukrainian airspace, adding that that would open a military interference in the Ukrainian conflict. Mateusz Morawiecki, Polands Prime Minister, also ruled out such a possibility. Poland doesnt have such plans, he said.

Meanwhile, Poland approved a draft bill to create a $1.75 billion fund to help war refugees from Ukraine. Over one million people have crossed into Poland and thousands have been hosted across the country, Reuters reported.

The legislation strives to permit the funding of food and temporary lodgings for refugees, along with measures allowing them to legally work and access public healthcare and social assistance in Poland.

NATO has taken a defensive stance so far, claiming that it did not want to be involved in the Russia-Ukraine war. The military bloc also rebuffed Ukraines demand for a no-fly zone, fearing an escalation, prompting a harsh response from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who labeled NATO as weak.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it abundantly clear that any country attempting to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine will be deemed an armed conflict by his administration.

Russias Defense Ministry has also threatened countries, notably NATO member Romania, against hosting Kyivs military planes, claiming that they could end up being involved in an armed conflict.

In a video conference, defense ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov claimed that several Ukrainian combat jets had been redeployed to Romania and other Ukraines neighbors.

He emphasized that if the jets attacked Russian forces from those countries, it could be considered an engagement in the military conflict. Konashenkov said: We know for sure that Ukrainian combat aircraft have flown to Romania and other neighboring countries.

The spokesperson further stated that Ukraines combat-ready aircraft had been destroyed in practically all instances. Romanias Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuc responded by saying, Its pure rhetoric designed to divert attention from what is really happening on the ground civilians killed, the rules of armed conflict flouted.

Moscow could try all they want to scare Romania, he added, but we have no reason to feel threatened. Ciuc highlighted an episode that occurred on February 24, the first day of the conflict, when a Ukrainian fighter plane was intercepted and allowed to land in Romanian airspace. The incursion was caused by a technical glitch, the pilot reportedly told Romanian officials.

Ciuc said that his jet was permitted to leave unarmed a few days later and that the episode had been made public to prevent misunderstandings with Moscow.

With NATO Article 5 in place, the risk of confrontation beyond Ukraine is very high. If Russia follows through on its warning and attacks NATO country in any way, the situation may quickly escalate into a bigger confrontation between Russia and the West. This is why NATO has rejected the EU fighter transfer plan.

Read more from the original source:

Fake News! Poland Slams US Reports As Misinformation; Says No Fighter Jets For Ukraine But Ready To Help Refugees - EurAsian Times

Fenerbahce have reacted furiously to claims made by a Turkish journalist about former Arsenal and Real Madrid star Mesut Ozil.

Midfielder Ozil has not played forFenerbahce since January 19, missing their last seven games in all competitions.

Broadcaster Volkan Demir had suggested on TVchannel A Spor that 33-year-old Ozil had gone on strike after not receiving his full salary.

But theTurkish Super Lig club refuted this in a strongly-worded statement.

Fenerbahce maintain that Ozil has missed their last seven games due to a back injury.

Mesut Ozil has not played for Fenerbahce since January 19

IMAGO/Seskim Photo

The club's statement read: "The news that Mesut Ozil did not play because his debts from the club were not paid have nothing to do with the facts.

"As we have often experienced, this kind of fake news that is created completely haphazardly without being confirmed by any official from our club is beyond our tolerance limit.

"Despite the heavy economic conditions at Fenerbahce, payments have been made on time until now.

"We invite Volkan Demir, who voiced this news, to correct his comment and apologize. Otherwise, we would like to point out that our club will not be able to take part in any organization or facility it hosts."

Fenerbahce do have well-documented financial problems, which have become worse as a result of the COVID pandemic.

They are currently operating under restrictions due toUEFA's Financial Fair Play rules and in debt by over 312m, according to the Daily Mail.

Things on the pitch are not great either.

The 19-time Turkish champions have not finished inside the top two since 2018 and are currently 20 points off the top this season.

Read this article:

Fenerbahce Hit Out At "Fake News" As Club Insist Mesut Ozil Is Injured And Not On Strike - Sports Illustrated

New Delhi: WhatsApp is one of the most popular instant messaging platform in India, though on the lopside the platform is also widely used to spread fake news and misinformation.

It is in this context that the Meta owned company has several fact-checking tools that helps users from differentiating fake news from real news. WhatsApp has 10 fact-checking tipline for Indian users which will play a vital role in cross-checking facts and truths behind viral messages amid the ongoing elections in the country. (Also read: GTA 5 new-gen version releasing on March 15, check India price for PS5, Xbox)

Users can use the following tiplines for users to verify information or news on WhatsApp

-AFP +91 95999 73984-Boom +91 77009-06111 / +91 77009-06588-Fact Crescendo +91 90490 53770-Factly +91 92470 52470-India Today +91 7370-007000-Newschecker +91 99994 99044-Newsmobile +91 11 7127 9799-Quint Webqoof +91 96436 51818-The Healthy Indian Project +91 85078 85079-Vishvas News +91 92052 70923 / +91 95992 99372

These tiplines can tell you the authenticity of a certain new, misleading content, photos, videos, and even voice recordings. The facility is available in English and 11 Indian languages.

Live TV

#mute

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How to verify fake news on WhatsApp? Check out these 10 numbers to seek information - Zee News

CBSE 12th term 1 result soon at cbseresults.nic.in

Image credit: shutterstock.com

CBSE 12th Term 1 Result 2021: A notice regarding the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 12 term 1 exam result is going viral on social media. The CBSE termed the notice as fake, sharing the photo on micro-blogging site Twitter to warn students and concerned authorities. "CBSE Class 12 results will be announced today at 2 PM," the fake notice mentioned. CBSE 12th Term 1 Result 2021 LIVE Register here for CBSE term 1 result, 10th, 12th Board Exams 2022 date sheets, syllabus, questions papers, preparation tips, and more

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#cbseforstudents #Exams #Fake #CBSEFake News Alert pic.twitter.com/d4HMDOibeH

A CBSE official earlier told Careers360, the Class 12 term 1 results are expected by Friday, and Class 10 results will be announced after that. The students can check the term 1 class 10 and 12 results on the official websites- cbse.gov.in, cbseresults.nic.in, once released. CBSE term 1 result will also be available on the DigiLocker app and digilocker.gov.in.

By submitting details, you are registering on Careers360

To download the CBSE class 12 term 1 result 2022, the students need to visit the official website- cbseresults.nic.in. Click on the link for Senior Secondary (Class 12) term 1 result 2021-22. Login with roll number and school number. Download your mark sheet and take a printout.

Over 36 lakh students appeared in the term 1 10th, 12th exams which were held in November-December. The term 2 exam will be held from April 26. In term-2 exams, students will answer both objective and subjective type questions.

Students should note that the board will not announce term 1 results as pass or fail or essential repeat. The final result will be published after term 2 exams. Meanwhile, the board is also expected to release the date sheets for term 2 board exams soon.

Read the original here:

CBSE 12th Term 1 Result 2021 Today? Fake News Alert Issued By CBSE - NDTV

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been met with global outrage and has sparked anti-war protests around the world. Dissenting voices are normally kept pretty quiet in President Putins Russia but numerous large-scale protests have emerged in the last two weeks in opposition to the war in Ukraine.

OVD-Info, an independent human rights media project, estimate that around 13,000 protestors have been arrested for participating in demonstrations across more than 140 Russian cities since the invasion began on 24 February.

There have been numerous reports of excessive force being used against protestors and the use of stun guns and truncheons to disperse those gathered. As is common in Russia, there have been heavy fines and serious charges for those involved in the protests.

Under Putin the Russia state has wielded a huge amount of control to supress the activities of protesters and that effort has been intensified in the past year. In early 2021 there was significant public supportfor Alexey Navalny, the politician and most vocal opponent of Putin in Russian society.

In the aftermath of those protests Navalnys organisations were designated as extremist groups and removed from the formal political landscape. Navalny himself was imprisoned, where he remains today, and new rules governing social media expression were introduced.

Even in the past week the Kremlin has approved new laws which punish civilians who spread fake news, meaning anything that contradicts the official account of events. On 4 March the Duma adopted legislation outlawing the distribution of "false information about the activities of the armed forces of the Russian Federation."

Anyone found guilty of doing so faced a jail sentence of up to 15 years and a fine worth up to 10,000. Statista found that in 2021 the average annual salary in Russia was around $9,200.

These harsh punishments for those involved do appear to be having the desired effect and preventing people from attending the public gatherings. Anastasia, a Moscow-based civil rights activist, spoke to DW about the declining numbers at protests and the impact that the tough laws are having on the cause.

"It was a catastrophe," she said of the latest demonstration at Pushkin Square. "I have never seen such a feeble protest in Moscow."

"Moscow controls a powerful security apparatus, and Russians are scared to lose their jobs now that sanctions have been imposed," she added. There are few like me.

Link:

How many protesters have been arrested in Russia? How are people avoiding arrest? - AS USA

Background reading on the state of disinformation in the United States. Many of these appeared around the time of the 2016 election, and we've included other more recent reports as well.

Fake news and the spread of misinformationFrom the Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School, links to peer-reviewed articles.

NiemanReports: Election '16: Lessons for JournalismFrom the Nieman Foundation at Harvard; several articles on fake news and news literacy

Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online ReasoningStanford University study on high school and college students' (lack of) news literacy

Lies, Damn Lies and Viral Content: How News Websites Spread (and Debunk) Online Rumors, Unverified Claims and MisinformationReport from Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University

The Science of Fake NewsScience, March 9 2018 ($)Multi-author article on the science behind why disinformation campaigns are effective. Unfortunately, this is behind a paywall; the link will work for Harvard affiliates.

Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics(2018, Oxford University Press)A book from the Berkman Klein Center on media coverage of the 2016 US Presidential election; the online version is free of charge.

The Global Disinformation Order: 2019 Global Inventory of Organized Social Media ManipulationUniversity of Oxford report on the use of disinformation campaigns by national governments.

A Guide to Anti-Misinformation Efforts Around the World2018 report on stepscountries around the world are taking to combat disinformation campaigns.

Disinformation and the 2020 ElectionOne in a series of report from NYU's Stern Center on Business and Human Rights, on the role of social media in the 2020 election.

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Home - "Fake News", Disinformation, and Propaganda ...

Fake news, or fabricated content deceptively presented as real news, has garnered a lot of interest since the U.S. presidential election last fall.

Although hardly a new phenomenon, the global nature of the web-based information environment allows purveyors of all sorts of falsehoods and misinformation to make an international impact. As a result, we talk of fake news and its impact not only in the United States, but also in France, Italy and Germany.

Even though the rise of fake news in recent months is undeniable, its impact is a different story. Many argue that fake news, often highly partisan, helped Donald Trump get elected. There was certainly evidence of fake news stories getting a lot of traction on social media, at times even outperforming actual news stories.

However, a closer analysis shows even the most widely circulated fake news stories were seen by only a small fraction of Americans. And the persuasive effects of these stories have not been tested.

Its likely that they were shared primarily as a way to signal support for either candidate, and not as evidence of news consumers actually believing the content of the story. This raises questions about whether fake news has any real impact at all and whether we, as a society, should be worried about it.

The real impact of the growing interest in fake news has been the realization that the public might not be well-equipped to separate quality information from false information. In fact, a majority of Americans are confident that they can spot fake news. When Buzzfeed surveyed American high schoolers, they too were confident they could spot, and ignore, fake news online. The reality, however, is that it might be more difficult than people think.

I began to test that notion recently in a study I conducted on about 700 undergraduate students at the University of British Columbia.

The design was simple. I showed students a variety of screenshots of actual news website banners ranging from established news sources like the the Globe and Mail, more partisan sources like Fox News and the Huffington Post, online aggregators like Yahoo! News and social media outlets like Upworthy and asked them to rate their legitimacy on a scale of zero to 100.

I also included actual screenshots of fake news websites, some of which gained prominence during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. One of these fake news sources was a website called ABCnews.com.co, which is made to look like ABC News, and featured some false content that gained prominence after it was retweeted by Eric Trump. The others were the Boston Tribune and World True News.

The findings are troubling. Even though the sample group was mostly composed of politically sophisticated and engaged news consumers (by their own admission), the respondents attributed more legitimacy to fake news outlets like ABCnews.com.co or the Boston Tribune than to Yahoo! News, an actual news organization.

Although these results are preliminary and part of a larger study, they are consistent with other research: people, and especially young people, have a hard time separating good sources of information from questionable ones or determining whether a photograph is authentic or fabricated.

Furthermore, ideology seems to impact the assessment of news legitimacy to a troubling degree. Left-leaning students see no difference between an extremist source like Breitbart and Fox News, which, in addition to right-wing partisan commentary, also features news reporting that adheres to standard journalistic norms.

As a result, something that looks and feels real, like the Boston Tribune, is given more legitimacy than an actual news source that students are familiar with, but dislike for ideological reasons. In fact, something that looks and feels fake, like World True News, is given more legitimacy than a real news outlet.

All of this suggests that even though we have been fairly lucky in Canada to avoid the spread of fake news which has plagued recent elections in other developed nations, it doesnt mean were immune to the phenomenon. In many ways, the foundation has been already laid.

According to research done by my colleague, Eric Merkley, Canadians are increasingly polarized along ideological lines, and this affective polarization tends to trigger motivated reasoning an unconscious, biased way of processing information which makes even smart people believe in falsehoods that support their ideological and partisan predispositions.

Additionally, the fragmentation and digitization of the news media landscape is not an American phenomenon, but a global one. According to the most recent study, nearly 80 per cent of Canadians get their news online, and nearly 50 per cent get news on social media, a platform that greatly contributed to the spread of misinformation in the United States. Taken together, the conditions are ripe for fake news to take off in Canada.

Sadly, theres no easy fix to the problem. Tweaking algorithms something Facebook and Google are trying to do can help, but the real solution must come from the news consumers. They need to be more skeptical and better-equipped to rate the quality of information that they encounter.

A crucial part of that strategy should involve media literacy training and equipping news consumers with tools that will allow them to gauge the legitimacy of the news source, but also become aware of their own cognitive biases.

The problem will only get worse without proper action as more people get their news online and politics becomes more tribal and polarized.

Go here to read the rest:

The real consequences of fake news - The Conversation