Category Archives: Fake News

Local and regional elected representatives throughout Europe have been faced with the rise of fake news and hate speech in recent years, particularly on the Internet and social networks. What responses and what tools should be developed to tackle this challenge? This is the backdrop for a thematic debate organised by the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Council of Europe's Congress on 27 October 2021 as part of the 41st session.

Site blocking or content filtering are not enough to stop fake news and hate speech, which can have powerful repercussions on the work of local and regional authorities and the functioning of democracy, especially during election or referendum campaigns. The debate also highlighted the impact of artificial intelligence and anonymity on their proliferation.

To help tackle the challenge, the Congress has launched an innovative cooperation project in collaboration with several European universities and academic centres. The aim is to analyse the damaging effects of fake news and hate speech, as well as the way in which they affect local political debate and to explore means of detecting these phenomena and possible legal and technical action against them.

The members of the Congress local and regional elected representatives of the Council of Europe's 47 member States will respond to a questionnaire, reporting back their own experiences of the Internet. This survey will provide, for the first time, a scientific basis for a policy for combating fake news and hate speech on the Internet in the local and regional context.

Video of the debate

*** 41st Session of the Congress***

Agenda - Documents : ENG | FRA | DEU | ITA | RUSFile 41st Session : live webcast, photos, videos and useful links

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Fake news and hate speech against elected representatives: Congress responds with a project to devise effective responses - Council of Europe

Journalism matters. That's the theme of this week's national campaign to celebrate the role a free press plays in British society, and it's a powerful statement of fact. But why?

It's not just so we can have something entertaining to read with our morning bowl of corn flakes.

Our democracy relies on it. Good journalism exposes wrongdoing and injustice, it scrutinises people in power and it champions and celebrates good causes.

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And at the heart of our news industry are local newspapers, powered by the reported, copy editors, photographers and publishers working 24-7 to bring us trusted news and information.

Their papers - like the Bedford Times and Citizen, in my own constituency - are the pillars of their communities. They keep us in the loop with the stories that impact our day-to-day lives - from council or court decisions to the rise and fall of local team sports.

I want to pay tribute to the people who keep those papers in print. They work incredibly hard - not always in the easiest of circumstances - to keep us informed and entertained.

Their work has become even more important in the internet age. Every day we all go online and check our Facebook feeds, or scroll through Twitter or Instagram. Each time we do so, we can be exposed to worrying misinformation such as COVID vaccine conspiracy theories.

Now more than ever we need properly sourced, robustly researched journalism. According to Ofcom, around two-thirds of people feel that the news they consume from print newspapers is just that: trustworthy, high-quality, and accurate. Journalists are our first line of defence in the fight against fake news.

We backed news publishers last year with a 35 million public information campaign during the pandemic, pumping vital advertising revenue into publishing.

We issued guidance to local authorities to allow newspaper deliveries to continue, zero-rated VAT on e-newspapers to make it easier for people staying at home to read their daily paper, and have extended business rated relief for local newspaper offices in Englan for an additional five years so that they can keep more of their hard-earned income.

All of that has helped out papers get through COVID. But we've got to look forward to the future.

We're living in a digital age, and one of the biggest issues in my in-tray as Culture Secreatary is making sure big social media platforms protect their users from danger online, including misinformation.

We've introduced a trailblazing Online Safety Bill that will make us one o the first countries in the world to force tech companies to clean up their sites. But, crucially for journalists, that Bill will also prevent social media firms from arbitrarily taking down content from respected news organisations.

And, even better, it includes extremely important protection and exemptions for journalists, so that we can protect their free speech while forcing social media platforms to police their sites properly.

We've also got to make sure news publishers and big tech compete on an even playing field - and we've set up a new competition until charged with making sure the most powerful tech giants do not abuse their dominance to disadvantage businesses that rely on them.

In government, we're doing all we can to help back our brilliant journalists to go about their jobs without fear or favour. This week you can do the same - by picking up a paper or visiting the websites of our world-renowned news industry.

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Why journalism matters and why it is crucial we support it - Manchester Evening News

A day after campaigning ended for the Huzurabad bye-election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) with complaints against each other, alleging spreading of fake news to spoil their chances.

On the other hand, the Congress party approached the poll body seeking cancellation of the bye-election saying the BJP and TRS, which are in power at the Centre and in Telangana respectively, were allegedly resorting to brazen abuse of power and obstructing the conduct of a free and fair election.

The BJP also sought strict implementation of Section 144 Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) that prohibits the assembly of four or more people, and requested the ECI to order checking of private hospital ambulances by central forces. Polling for the bye-election is scheduled on October 30.

Congress leader Dasoju Sravan, after calling on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra in Delhi, said the Huzurabad bye-election is considered the most expensive election in the history of Indian democracy. Both TRS and BJP are splurging money earned through corruption. As the campaigning ended on Wednesday, TRS and BJP leaders are now distributing money in covers, with each cover containing Rs 6,000 to 10,000, he alleged.

The bye-election was necessitated after former health minister Eatala Rajender resigned on June 4 from the TRS party and his MLA post after he was dropped unceremoniously from the Cabinet on May 1 over allegations of land grabbing by a company owned by his family. Rajender, a four-term MLA who has been with TRS since 2003, is now BJPs candidate. The bye-election is being seen as a political battle of one-upmanship between Eatala Rajender and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Several tall leaders from all three major political parties have campaigned and camped at Huzurabad in the last five months making it one of the longest election campaigns. Alcohol is flowing and wreaking havoc in local families as both the ruling parties are distributing it freely to unduly influence male voters. Despite all these illicit practices and chaos, officials are not taking any action, Sravan alleged.

The BJP alleged that TRS activists were roaming around the villages and towns in groups with the help of the local police despite orders from the district collector prohibiting the gathering of four or more persons in the entire constituency. BJPs state general secretary G Premender Reddy, in his letter to CEC Chandra, Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, and the Chief Electoral Officer for Telangana, Shashank Goel, alleged TRS activists were sending money through private hospital ambulances and that the local police were mute spectators. The ruling government, TRS party, and its activists have arranged a cocktail party/cocktail dinner with the presiding officers of the polling station, who have to work in Huzurabad constituency, he alleged.

Meanwhile, a video has gone viral on social media where a woman is receiving an envelope with photos of BJPs election symbol and its candidate Rajender. Inside the envelope are five currency notes of Rs 2,000 each. Several such videos are doing the rounds. Regarding these videos, Premender Reddy shot another letter to the Election Commission and called for an investigation. This is to blame the Bharatiya Janata Party and its candidate and it should be seriously investigated. Take necessary criminal action against the person circulating and preparing such videos, he wrote, seeking serious and immediate action against the people creating such videos and circulating the same.

The TRS, in its complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer Telangana against a private news channel, said the channel was spreading false news that claimed Finance Minister T Harish Rao was in favour of his former colleague and now BJP candidate Eatala Rajender. This news clipping was a deliberate attempt to damage the prospects of TRS candidate Gellu Srinivas Yadav, said M Sreenivas Reddy, state general secretary of TRS, in his letter.

Taking action on one of the complaints regarding a fake letter, the CEC directed Telangana DGP to register an FIR and initiate legal action. A letter, purportedly from the ECI and widely circulated on social media, had claimed that the implementation of the Dalit Bandhu scheme, where a Dalit family was given cash assistance of Rs 10 lakh via direct benefit transfer, was deferred in Huzurabad on account of the Model Code of Conduct based on a letter from BJP candidate Eatala Rajender. The ECI later clarified to the Chief Electoral Officer that the letter was fake.

The Huzurabad constituency has 2.37 lakh voters, of which 1.19 lakh are women. As many as 30 candidates are in the fray. As of date, the ECI through its flying squads, static surveillance teams, and police checkpoints, has seized Rs 3.31 crore in cash, liquor worth Rs 7.30 lakh, marijuana worth Rs 69,750, gold worth Rs 10.6 lakh, and freebies such as sarees and shirts worth Rs 2.21 lakh, taking the cumulative seizure to Rs 3.52 crore.

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Huzurabad bypolls: Allegations fly thick and fast on fake news, cash distribution - The Indian Express

The Army Spokesperson, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, made the accusation in a statement titled, Conspiracy Pretext Employed by IPOB/ESN, a Hoax on Saturday in Abuja.

Nwachukwu denied a recent allegation that the Department of State Services (DSS) created and funded Biafra National Guard (BNG) to enforce the sit-at-home Order in a bid to discredit IPOB.

The Army spokesman stated that such fake news was part of the plans of the outlawed group to whip up sentiments and galvanise support in the region.

He stated that the spurious allegation by the outlawed group was unfounded and could be absolutely described as a hoax.

He, however, stated that the activities of IPOB have undoubtedly assumed a violent dimension in recent times following the killings in Imo, Anambra and other parts of the region.

The statement reads: Though the NA would not like to elevate such purveyors of disinformation and propaganda, it is expedient to put on record that in recent times, the activities of IPOB/ESN have undoubtedly assumed a violent dimension. This unimaginable level of violence is oiled with propaganda and disinformation to whip-up sentiments and draw sympathy from unsuspecting citizens in the region.

For the records, the proscribed organisation has in recent times foisted a sit-at-home order to show sympathy for their self-acclaimed leader.

This was greeted with violence, orchestrated destruction of public installations and facilities, arson, as well as looting of shops and malls in the region, to demonstrate their criminal potency. They defiled the sanctity of the highly revered traditional institution of Ndigbos by recklessly murdering their traditional leaders.

These spineless and irresponsible actions targeted at the very people they claim they want to liberate, clearly unmask their heinous and directionless agenda for Ndigbo.

Realising the futility, hollowness and public rejection of their violent agitation, they resorted to twisting the narrative in the region to galvanize local support. Their wild allegation that BNG and UGN were an overt operation by the DMI and DSS is not only laughable but remains largely illusive and a ploy to diminish the public support the NA is savouring in the ongoing exercises.

These criminal elements with their cohorts must come to terms with the reality of the ongoing Exercise GOLDEN DAWN and turn themselves into security agencies or be ready to face the consequences of their lawlessness.

More grotesque is the narrative peddled by these merchants of propaganda, in respect of IPOB/ESN gunmen recently eliminated by troops in a shootout at Ekwulobia Roundout in Aguata LGA. These unscrupulous elements insinuated that those taken out were Fulanis.

An outrageous claim that should be disregarded in its entirety. This is another failed attempt in their usual mannerism, to attribute their criminal activities to a third party and feign innocence; an indication of a visionless group devoid of integrity.

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Army Accuses IPOB Of Spreading Fake News To Gather Support - Naija News

NBA and NFL network announcers are serial name-droppers. They love sliding mentions of conversations theyve had this week with Gregg Popovich or Andy Reid into telecasts on ESPN and the broadcast networks as a way of establishing their authority and credibility. And then Jeff Van Gundy admitted that coaches dish plenty of fake news in those pregame meetings.

Jeff Van Gundy and basketball date to the days as a kid when he tagged along with his brother Stan to college practices run by their father, Bill Van Gundy. After playing Division III ball in Rochester, New York, he went on to coach one season at a local high school.

A year later, he worked for Rick Pitino as a graduate assistant for a Providence College team that reached the NCAA Tournament Final Four. In subsequent seasons he worked for veteran coaches Gordon Chiesa at Providence and Bob Wenzel at Rutgers.

Along the way, Van Gundy earned a reputation as a tireless worker, which caught the attention of the NBAs New York Knicks, where he worked on the staffs of Stu Jackson, John MacLeod, Pat Riley, and Don Nelson. On March 8, 1996, the Knicks promoted him to head coach.

He resigned early in the 2001-02 season and then got back into coaching with the Houston Rockets from 2003-07. In parts of 11 pro seasons, Van Gundy went 430-318 in the regular season and 44-44 in the playoffs. The Rockets fired Van Gundy after a first-round exit in the 2007 playoffs and, though his name still surfaces occasionally when jobs open up, he has resisted returning to the bench.

Van Gundy moved from the Rockets into broadcasting at ESPN and ABC.

As Jeff Van Gundy learned with the Knicks, there is no consistently tougher media market in sports than New York City. TV and print outlets across the Tri-State region and the presence of 24/7 sports radio mean that coaches of struggling teams get put on blast with more intensity than those anywhere else.

In addition to local media, however, coaches deal with TV play-by-play announcers and analysts a few days before national telecasts like weekend NFL games or the NBA contests that ESPN and TNT carry.

Whether via Zoom or in person, coaches face questions about the upcoming game and their players. Van Gundy has been on both ends of those conversations. While he agrees that probably earns him some trust, Van Gundy told The Athletic most of the conversations are useless.

There used to be more people in the room when the coaches were talking to us. I thought a lot of times it was sort of a waste of time. A lot of platitudes. No real insight and I dont blame the coaches. You do have to be cognizant of what youre saying, and you dont know a lot of these people.

According to Jeff Van Gundy, the real conversations about players take place once the meetings that the network and the team arrange end.

There will be certain coaches that will text me something afterward, and a lot of it is, Use your own words, but this is whats going on, Van Gundy admitted. Youre just trying to get answers. Like, I wonder why this guy is not playing, is this a legit injury or is he milking the injury, and things of that nature. So, you want them to steer you right but also make sure that you dont break any confidence.

Thats a difficult balancing act when five people in the room hear one player evaluation and then Van Gundy goes on the air the following night with a different take.

I had one coach one time who had just said the opposite in the meeting about how wonderful a guy is, he recalled. I might have had a strange look on my face, and he called later and said, You know I was bulls******* in there, but I had to do that.

Having coached, you know how that goes. So, I appreciate when they can tell me the truth.

Van Gundy has been off the bench long enough now where he runs up against the occasional generation gap. That reality hit home when the Washington Wizards hired Wes Unseld Jr. to coach in the offseason.

I coached against his dad, and Wes Unseld Jr. played for my college coach at Johns Hopkins, Van Gundy said. Thats how old I am now. But I love talking to coaches. I have great empathy for how hard a job it is, and its really one of the highlights for me.

I love getting the chance to listen to them.

Thats true even if the real listening begins after the meeting ends.

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RELATED: Im a Basket Case, NBA Analyst Jeff Van Gundy Admits

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Jeff Van Gundy Dishes on How NBA Coaches Spew Fake News When Talking to Reporters - Sportscasting

Following Facebook and Twitter finally banning Donald Trump from spreading false news from their pages, the former president has found new ways to get his message across. The Wall Street Journal published one on Wednesday Letter from the former PresidentIn it he makes a number of unsubstantiated, unsubstantiated and already invalid allegations; Among other things, he said the 2020 presidential election was rigged. Countless Investigations and trial No trace of such statements could be found.

The election was handled, which unfortunately you still dont understand, Trump wrote before listing unsubstantiated explanations for his claims. Following the publication of this letter, the Wall Street Journal received a lot of criticism from its own team. Former senior editor Bill Cruzkin commented on Twitter, asking why the authors did not verify the facts of the letter or remove the worst lies. When someone spreads many untruths, authors are usually obliged to dissect them or at the same time publish the answer, the Wall Street Journal did not explicitly do so, Groskin said.Washington Post.

The HuffPost reporter at the White House also responded TwitterMost newspapers do not allow commentators to make simply nonsense lies. The Wall Street Journal is obviously not one of them.

That The Wall Street JournalResponding on his comment page on Thursday, he supported the release of the letter: We hope our readers can get an idea of Trumps statements for themselves. Moreover, the former president, who could run again in 2024, (or specifically) though his claims are utter nonsense, we think it is worthwhile to write about what he did.

Of Speakal It is suspected that there is a trick behind Trumps repeated allegations about the 2020 presidential election. Through his statements, he is destroying the confidence of citizens in the US election process. Considering the 2022 midterm elections Presidential Election 2024 It is feared that this will be the basis for not recognizing or even canceling future election results.

Amateur coffee fan. Travel guru. Subtly charming zombie maven. Incurable reader. Web fanatic.

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The Wall Street Journal publishes Donald Trump's letter with fake news about the 2020 election - Socialpost

On the second day of the 41st Session, Wednesday 27 October 2021, the Congress adopted reports on local self-government in Cyprus and North Macedonia. The report on Cyprus was presented by Gunn Marit Helgesen (Norway, EPP/CCE) and Marc Cools (Belgium, ILDG). The debate was followed by an exchange with Cyprus Minister of Interior Nicos Nouris. Zdenek Broz (Czech Republic, ECR) and Harald Bergmann (Netherlands, ILDG) presented the report on North Macedonia, which was followed by a statement by Deputy Minister for Local Self Government of North Macedonia, Zoran Dimitrovski, who also replied to questions from the floor.

Congress members held a debate in the plenary on Covid: the road to recovery?. It sought to tackle pressing issues at stake in European cities and regions: how can societies recover from the crisis while the health situation seems to stabilize in many European countries? OECD Deputy Secretary General Ulrik Vestergaard-Knudsen stressed the heterogeneity of the economic and social impact of the pandemic among regions. CEB Appointed Governor Carlo Monticelli underlined the role of local and regional authorities as "precious allies when it comes to delivering high impact social investments to communities most in need".

Local and regional elected representatives throughout Europe have been faced with the rise of fake news and hate speech in recent years, particularly on the Internet and social networks. As such, a thematic debate was organised by the Chamber of Local Authorities to determine which responses should be enacted and what tools should be developed to tackle the challenge of fake news and hate speech. The project will explore means of detecting these phenomena and possible legal and technical action against them. At the opening of the sitting President of the Chamber of Local Authorities, Bernd Vhringer, drew attention to the increase of hate speech and fake news on the internet and the impact of these negative phenomena on the working environment of mayors and councillors.

In the plenary, the State Secretary responsible for Security Policy of Hungary, Pter Sztaray, underlined the key priorities of the Hungarian Presidency: artificial intelligence and digitalization, the protection of national minorities, environmental issues, antisemitism, and youth issues during his speech to the Committee of Ministers.

On the same day, the Chamber of the Regions debated inter-regional and cross-border co-operation for better territorial integration in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Congress called on members States in particular to make use of Protocol No. 3 of the Madrid Convention which constitutes a legal basis for cross-border co-operation in Europe. The Congress also called for special legal provisions for transborder communities having a legal status, in order to overcome the obstacles created by the different legal regimes on either side of the border, as well as for strengthening cross-border governance and horizontal subsidiarity through the transfer of operational competences and resources to transborder communities.

The Chamber of Regions also discussed the challenges to expand professional education and lifelong learning for young people at the regional level, shared measures and best practices to remedy these issues, and considered what further action the Congress desires to take on this suject. This was achieved through a debate on the lifelong education to ensure/secure lifelong employment perspectives for young generations, a challenge for the regions.

Members of the Chamber further explored the role of relations with diaspora communities as a contribution to regional development and regional mechanisms for engaging diasporas to foster commercial and cultural exchanges, attract foreign investment, facilitate technology and knowledge transfer, and seize other socio-economic benefits from the links with diaspora during its third debate on Wednesday morning.

At the opening of the sitting, the President of the Chamber of Regions, Harald Sonderegger, called for a re-decentralisation of competences and resources to regions and their better distribution with an improved system of multi-level governance. This follows the fact that during the Covid-19 crisis, many competences were recentralised to the national executive and many decisions were taken without proper consultations with regional authorities despite the multi-level governance proving to be more effective and flexible in responding to the pandemic, when it was used.

Also on the agenda was the Dosta!-Congress Prize awarded to Municipalities from Portugal, Greece and the United Kingdom for initiatives aimed at integration of Roma and Travellers. First place went to the Portuguese municipality of Torres Vedras, which came up with a unique plan enhancing cohesion between local communities and Roma. The second place was awarded to Greek municipality of Argostoli for improving living conditions of the Roma community, attendance conditions for children in schools, as well as for providing housing and health care support to Roma population on Kefalonia island. British Salford won the 3rd prize for implementing an educational exhibition.

The Chamber of Local Authorities elected John Warmisham (United Kingdom, SOC/G/PD) and Oksana Derkach (Ukraine, EPP/CCE) as 6th and 7th Vice-President, respectively.

Videos of the debates: Plenary Session | Chamber of Local Authorities | Chamber of Regions

*** 41st Session of the Congress ***

Agenda- Documents : ENG | FRA | DEU | ITA | RUS41st Session webpage: live broadcast, photos, videos and useful links

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Congress held debates on local self-government in Cyprus and North Macedonia, as well as on Covid-19 recovery, hate speech and fake news, territorial...

1. How Facebook's Algorithm Led a New India User to Fake News, Violence  Bloomberg
2. How Facebooks algorithm led a test user in India to fake news, gore  Business Standard
3. Facebook selective in curbing hate speech and fake news in India?  Asianet Newsable
4. Facebook Failed to Curb Fake News that Spread Violence and Gore: Internal Report  Silverscreen
5. Facebook Dithered in Curbing Divisive User Content in India | Political News  U.S. News & World Report
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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How Facebook's Algorithm Led a New India User to Fake News, Violence - Bloomberg

This article is adapted fromAQs special report on the battle over fake news | Leer en espaol |Ler em portugus

The image on our cover, a photoshopped image depicting Pope Francis smoking marijuana with former Bolivian President Evo Morales, thus proving the Argentine pontiff is a decadent socialist at heart, was the most ridiculous recent example of fake news we could find. But it was hardly the most damaging.

This special report of AQ focuses on the profound, and possibly terminal, threat that fake news and misinformation pose to the democracies of the Americas. Whether its memes falsely alleging election fraud in Brazil, or touting bananas as a miracle COVID-19 cure in Mexico, the onslaught has accelerated a decade-long trend of declining confidence in democratic institutions, while costing countless lives during the pandemic. Disillusioned, many are putting their faith instead in authoritarian leaders, who are delighted by (and in some cases directly feeding) the confusion.

Upcoming elections over the next year in Chile, Colombia and, especially, Brazil will be a major test. Governments, social media companies and traditional media are brandishing an array of toolssome new, some oldin the hope of halting the decay. But there is no silver bullet, and some of the proposed cures, such as government-run fact-checking agencies or jail time for those who propagate fake news, may be worse than the disease itself. President Jair Bolsonaro and other leaders seem determined to protect their freedom of speech online, setting up a showdown with courts and tech companiesand possibly a constitutional crisis in Brazil.

The only surefire solution is education: media literacy and other programs to teach citizens to be more discerning about what they consume. Big tech companies could also increase funding for serious newsgathering outlets (whose business model they helped destroy). But these are long-term solutions, and they require public buy-in. So far, the 21st century has only seen people withdraw deeper inside bubbles of their own design. Its unsettlingly unclear what, if anything, could change that.

Any opinions expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect those of Americas Quarterly or its publishers.

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NEW AQ: Can Latin American Democracies Survive the Age of Fake News? - Americas Quarterly

In February 2019, Facebook Inc. set up a test account in India to determine how its own algorithms affect what people see in one of its fastest growing and most important overseas markets. The results stunned the companys own staff.

Within three weeks, the new users feed turned into a maelstrom of fake news and incendiary images. There were graphic photos of beheadings, doctored images of India air strikes against Pakistan and jingoistic scenes of violence. One group for things that make you laugh included fake news of 300 terrorists who died in a bombing in Pakistan.

Ive seen more images of dead people in the past 3 weeks than Ive seen in my entire life total, one staffer wrote, according to a 46-page research note thats among the trove of documents released by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

The test proved telling because it was designed to focus exclusively on Facebooks role in recommending content. The trial account used the profile of a 21-year-old woman living in the western India city of Jaipur and hailing from Hyderabad. The user only followed pages or groups recommended by Facebook or encountered through those recommendations. The experience was termed an integrity nightmare, by the author of the research note.

While Haugens disclosures have painted a damning picture of Facebooks role in spreading harmful content in the U.S., the India experiment suggests that the companys influence globally could be even worse. Most of the money Facebook spends on content moderation is focused on English-language media in countries like the U.S.

But the companys growth largely comes from countries like India, Indonesia and Brazil, where it has struggled to hire people with the language skills to impose even basic oversight. The challenge is particularly acute in India, a country of 1.3 billion people with 22 official languages. Facebook has tended to outsource oversight for content on its platform to contractors from companies like Accenture.

Weve invested significantly in technology to find hate speech in various languages, including Hindi and Bengali, a Facebook spokeswoman said. As a result, weve reduced the amount of hate speech that people see by half this year. Today, its down to 0.05 percent. Hate speech against marginalized groups, including Muslims, is on the rise globally. So we are improving enforcement and are committed to updating our policies as hate speech evolves online.

The new user test account was created on Feb. 4, 2019 during a research teams trip to India, according to the report. Facebook is a pretty empty place without friends, the researchers wrote, with only the companys Watch and Live tabs suggesting things to look at.

The quality of this content is not ideal, the report said. When the video service Watch doesnt know what a user wants, it seems to recommend a bunch of softcore porn, followed by a frowning emoticon.

The experiment began to turn dark on Feb. 11, as the test user started to explore content recommended by Facebook, including posts that were popular across the social network. She began with benign sites, including the official page of Prime Minister Narendra Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and BBC News India.

Then on Feb. 14, a terror attack in Pulwama in the politically sensitive Kashmir state killed 40 Indian security personnel and injured dozens more. The Indian government attributed the strike to a Pakistan terrorist group. Soon the testers feed turned into a barrage of anti-Pakistan hate speech, including images of a beheading and a graphic showing preparations to incinerate a group of Pakistanis.

There were also nationalist messages, exaggerated claims about Indias air strikes in Pakistan, fake photos of bomb explosions and a doctored photo that purported to show a newly-married army man killed in the attack whod been preparing to return to his family.

Many of the hate-filled posts were in Hindi, the countrys national language, escaping the regular content moderation controls at the social network. In India, people use a dozen or more regional variations of Hindi alone. Many people use a blend of English and Indian languages, making it almost impossible for an algorithm to sift through the colloquial jumble. A human content moderator would need to speak several languages to sieve out toxic content.

After 12 days, 12 planes attacked Pakistan, one post exulted. Another, again in Hindi, claimed as Hot News the death of 300 terrorists in a bomb explosion in Pakistan. The name of the group sharing the news was Laughing and things that make you laugh. Some posts containing fake photos of a napalm bomb claimed to be Indias air attack on Pakistan reveled, 300 dogs died. Now say long live India, death to Pakistan.

The report entitled An Indian test users descent into a sea of polarizing, nationalist messages makes clear how little control Facebook has in one of its most important markets. The Menlo Park, California-based technology giant has anointed India as a key growth market, and used it as a test bed for new products. Last year, Facebook spent nearly $6 billion on a partnership with Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in Asia, who leads the Reliance conglomerate.

This exploratory effort of one hypothetical test account inspired deeper, more rigorous analysis of our recommendation systems, and contributed to product changes to improve them, the Facebook spokeswoman said. Our work on curbing hate speech continues and we have further strengthened our hate classifiers, to include four Indian languages.

But the company has also repeatedly tangled with the Indian government over its practices there. New regulations require that Facebook and other social media companies identify individuals responsible for their online content making them accountable to the government. Facebook and Twitter Inc. have fought back against the rules. On Facebooks WhatsApp platform, viral fake messages circulated about child kidnapping gangs, leading to dozens of lynchings across the country beginning in the summer of 2017, further enraging users, the courts and the government.

The Facebook report ends by acknowledging its own recommendations led the test user account to become filled with polarizing and graphic content, hate speech and misinformation. It sounded a hopeful note that the experience can serve as a starting point for conversations around understanding and mitigating integrity harms from its recommendations in markets beyond the U.S.

Could we as a company have an extra responsibility for preventing integrity harms that result from recommended content?, the tester asked.

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Facebook led test account to gore, fake news in just 21 days - The Indian Express