Facebook CEO Zuckerberg Calls for More Outside Regulation
Associated Press in the New York Times, March 30th, 2019
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Saturday for more outside regulation in several areas in which the social media site has run into problems over the past few years: harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability.
Australian Official Lifts Lid on Cyberwarfare
Associated Press in the New York Times, March 27th, 2019
Australia’s top cyberwarrior revealed Wednesday that his country actively participated in the electronic war against the Islamic State group in Syria, degrading their communications during military operations and actively stopping people seeking to join the extremist group.
Censorship Pays: China’s State Newspaper Expands Lucrative Online Scrubbing Business
Reuters in the New York Times, March 28th, 2019
People.cn, the online unit of China’s influential People’s Daily, is boosting its numbers of human internet censors backed by artificial intelligence to help firms vet content on apps and adverts, capitalizing on its unmatched Communist Party lineage.
Facebook, Twitter Sucked Into India-Pakistan Information War
Reuters in the New York Times, April 2nd, 2019
Pakistani social media campaigner Hanzala Tayyab leads about 300 ultra-nationalist cyber warriors fighting an internet war with arch-foe India, in a battle that is increasingly sucking in global tech giants such as Twitter and Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Call to Regulate Facebook, Explained
Mike Isaac, March 30th, 2019, New York Times
Facebook has faced months of scrutiny for a litany of ills, from spreading misinformation to not properly protecting its users’ data to allowing foreign meddling in elections.
Countries Want to Ban ‘Weaponized’ Social Media. What Would That Look Like?
Damien Cave, March 31st, 2019, New York Times
What if live-streaming required a government permit, and videos could only be broadcast online after a seven-second delay?
YouTube’s Product Chief on Online Radicalization and Algorithmic Rabbit Holes
Kevin Roose, March 29th, 2019, New York Times
It’s been called “one of the most powerful radicalizing instruments of the 21st century,” “a petri dish of divisive, conspiratorial and sometimes hateful content,” and a tool that “drives people to the internet’s darkest corners.”
A Way to Detect the Next Russian Misinformation Campaign
Philip Howard, opinion in the New York Times, March 27th, 2019
Require technology companies to put all of their ads in a publicly accessible archive.
Singapore Plans Law to Fight False News, but Critics Fear Repression
Mike Ives and Raymond Zhong, April 1st, 2019, New York Times
Singapore introduced draft legislation on Monday that it said would combat false or misleading information on the internet, but critics said the measure could be used as a cudgel against the government’s critics.
In India Election, False Posts and Hate Speech Flummox Facebook
Vindu Goel and Sheera Frenkel, April 1st, 2019, New York Times
After a suicide bombing on Feb. 14 in the disputed border region of Kashmir, India accused neighboring Pakistan of harboring the terrorists who it said had orchestrated the attack. The two countries quickly traded airstrikes.
Twitter Network Uses Fake Accounts to Promote Netanyahu, Israel Watchdog Finds
Ronen Bergman, March 31st, 2019, New York Times
An Israeli watchdog group has found a network of hundreds of social media accounts, many of them fake, used to smear opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in next week’s election and to amplify the messages of his Likud party, according to a report to be released Monday.
In Ukraine, Russia Tests a New Facebook Tactic in Election Tampering
Michael Schwirtz and Sheera Frenkel, March 29, 2019, New York Times
Campaigning for Ukraine’s presidential election had just begun to heat up when the authorities announced they had thwarted a Russian plot to use Facebook to undermine the vote.
WhatsApp Launches Fact-Check Service to Fight Fake News During India Polls
Reuters, April 2nd, 2019, New York Times
WhatsApp on Tuesday launched a service for Indians to check the veracity of information, in the messaging platform’s latest attempt to combat fake news in India ahead of national elections beginning this month.
Study: Many in Ebola Outbreak Don’t Believe Virus is Real
Associated Press in the New York Times, AMarch 27th, 2019
One out of four people interviewed in eastern Congo last year believed Ebola wasn’t real, according to a new study, underscoring the enormous challenges health care workers are facing in what has become the second-deadliest outbreak in history.
Despite Being Exposed, Fake News Thrives in Social Media Ahead of India Pools
Reuters, April 2nd, 2019, New York Times
Two weeks after a suicide bombing in Kashmir in February killed 40 Indian policemen, a Facebook user called Avi Dandiya posted a live video in which he played a recording of a call purportedly involving India’s home minister, the president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and an unidentified woman.
Facebook Deletes Accounts Linked to India’s Congress Party, Pakistan Military
Reuters, April 1st, 2019, New York Times
Facebook has deleted 712 accounts and 390 pages in India and Pakistan for “inauthentic behavior”, it said on Monday, many linked to India’s opposition Congress party days before a national election, and others related to Pakistan’s military.