Selected Washington Post Articles – Week Ending February 20th, 2019

Nigeria in Battle against Fake News Ahead of Elections
Rodney Muhumuza and Sam Olukoya, Associated Press in the Washington Post
In Nigeria fake news can be so outlandish, yet widely believed, that the president recently felt compelled to declare that he had not died and been replaced by a Sudanese body double. “It’s (the) real me, I assure you,” President Muhammadu Buhari said late last year, to dispel the story that was viewed more than 500,000 times on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Nigeria’s fake news can also be lethal.

Saturday will be Nigeria’s first WhatsApp election. Here’s what we’re learning about ‘fake news.’
Jamie Hitchen, Jonathan Fisher, Nic Cheeseman and Idayat Hassan in the Washington Post
WhatsApp’s use as a tool for political campaigns and sharing fake news across the global south has become increasingly apparent in the past year. High-profile state level elections in India in May were highly influenced by WhatsApp sharing, according to Washington Post reporters and other observers. Brazil’s presidential vote in October was shaped by WhatsApp sharing of fake news, much of it done by automated bots.

U.S. cyber force credited with helping stop Russia from undermining midterms
Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post, February 14th, 2019
Senators from both political parties on Thursday praised the military’s cyber force for helping secure last year’s midterm elections, with one suggesting it was largely due to U.S. Cyber Command that the Russians failed to affect the 2018 vote.

The U.S. government and Facebook are negotiating a record, multibillion-dollar fine for the company’s privacy lapses
Tony Romm, Washington Post, February 14th, 2019
The Federal Trade Commission and Facebook are negotiating over a multi-billion dollar fine that would settle the agency’s investigation into the social media giant’s privacy practices, according to two people familiar with the probe.