Coronavirus arrests, Facebook's oversight board and Myanmar internet shutdown
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Checklist. Misinformation about novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) continues to go viral and the tide of false content is high. We're beginning to see governments and social media platforms react to the misinfodemic in different ways.
Meedan is tracking misinformation related to the epidemic. We’re working with our partners to understand how the absence of credible sources of information feeds the spread of health misinformation during global events. If you’re designing a response to address misinformation related to the coronavirus, please let us know.
The theme of today’s newsletter is misinformation and governance. We’ve got updates on coronavirus misinformation and ensuing arrests in Asian countries, incoming details on Facebook's oversight board, and the internet shutting down again in Myanmar. We’re writing to you this week from New York and New Delhi.
Here's your weekly roundup!
People spreading fake news about coronavirus were arrested across Asia (The Print)
More than 20 people across six countries in Asia have been arrested for allegedly spreading misinformation on the origins, scale and magnitude of the coronavirus epidemic. Authorities in Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Thailand have all joined China in cracking down on misinformation with arrests and the threat of imprisonment. Misinformation on social media in Hong Kong have “caused panic” and helped “breed paranoia," according to the police. India has arrested five people on suspicion of spreading rumors on the whereabouts of patients, while Indonesia arrested two people on charges of spreading fake news related to coronavirus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has its risk communication and social media teams tracking and responding to myths and rumors on the virus across Weibo, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
“It’s a challenge of the 21st century…We’re all beneficiaries of those extremely intense and fast communications, and we can also be victims of it,”
- Sylvie Briand, Director for Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness, WHO
Here’s how Facebook plans to make final decisions about controversial content it’s taken down (Vox)
This week Facebook revealed new details about its external oversight board—the body that the platform plans to use to evaluate how the company moderates its content, including handling controversial posts, and possibly its policies around hate speech, nudity, and misinformation. One of the criticisms coming out of the company’s most recent update comes from revelations that when the oversight board launches, its members will be focusing on content that may have been previously removed in error—but not content that is currently flagged as problematic.
“If a post was allowed to stay up in error — a piece of viral misinformation about a health crisis, for example — the board will initially have no jurisdiction. (Facebook says that it will get such jurisdiction in the future but won’t specify a time frame.)...If Facebook expands the jurisdiction to include takedowns within the first few months of the board’s operation, I don’t think this omission is that big a deal. Much longer than that, though, and I’d say Facebook has a problem.” - Casey Newton, The Verge
News literacy lessons: How a pandemic of misinformation about coronavirus has far outpaced the disease’s spread (Washington Post)
What does it mean for a rumor to “go viral?” How is the outbreak of a disease similar to the spread of viral misinformation? What can the steps taken by medical professionals to control the spread of disease teach us about controlling the spread of misinformation? These are all lessons that the Washington Post and the News Literacy Project, an initiative founded by former reporter and Pulitzer-winner Alan Miller, are offering as talking points for students as misinformation about coronavirus spreads online.
“In short, while the outbreak itself is close to being classified as a pandemic, the misinformation about the 2019 novel coronavirus has achieved that status many times over. As worrisome as this is, coronavirus misinformation patterns can be used as a case study with students. Just as epidemiologists can glean valuable insights from outbreaks of disease, students can analyze the plethora of coronavirus rumors to refine their understanding of why and how falsehoods spread.” - Washington Post
Myanmar reimposes internet shutdown in conflict-torn Rakhine, Chin states - telco operator (Reuters)
Myanmar has imposed an internet shutdown in two conflict-torn states of Rakhine and Chin. Officials cited security and public interest for stopping mobile internet traffic for up to three months. The same areas had faced data network shutdown for two months in 2019.
More than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims were forced to flee northern Rakhine state in 2017 after a military crackdown that the U.N. has said was executed with genocidal intent.This time the order comes amid escalating violence. Lawmakers in the affected areas said the internet blackout had negatively impacted businesses and could prevent aid from reaching villages caught up in the fighting.
Aung Marm Oo, the editor-in-chief of a Rakhine-based online media group, said the blackout had disrupted the publication of news on the conflict. “Internet shutdowns negatively impact on journalism... The Internet is essential for us to be able to send video files and pictures for our news stories,” he said.
Twitter and Facebook are directing Italy’s coronavirus content to the country’s Ministry of Health (Ansa)
Italy’s Minister of Health tweeted today that searches about coronavirus on Facebook and Twitter will guide users to a government information page. "We must pay particular attention to the management of correct communication and the fight against fake news," said Minister Roberto Speranza.
Brazil’s Fake News Commission is investigating suspicious accounts (Source)
Brazil’s Fake News Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) was formed in September 2019 to investigate cyber attacks against democracy and public debate in Brazil. The team is also charged with looking into the use of false profiles and messages to influence the results of the 2018 Brazilian elections. This week, the Commission asked companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram to send lawmakers information about conversations involving eleven suspicious profiles, in an effort to know more about who is disseminating fake news.
"Most of the requests are authored by deputy Alexandre Frota, from PSDB, who said that there are structures in the government and in Congress paid for with public money to reach reputations, the so-called 'hate office'," - CBN Globo Radio
Brazil’s Fake News Commission is investigating suspicious accounts (Source)
Brazil’s Fake News Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) was formed in September 2019 to investigate cyber attacks against democracy and public debate in Brazil. The team is also charged with looking into the use of false profiles and messages to influence the results of the 2018 Brazilian elections. This week, the Commission asked companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram to send lawmakers information about conversations involving eleven suspicious profiles, in an effort to know more about who is disseminating fake news.
"Most of the requests are authored by deputy Alexandre Frota, from PSDB, who said that there are structures in the government and in Congress paid for with public money to reach reputations, the so-called 'hate office'," - CBN Globo Radio
Open Source Investigation
Satellite Imagery Service Used by Human Rights Investigators Abruptly Shuts Down
Vice News
Earlier this week a critical and inexpensive tool used by open-source investigators to scan changes in satellite imagery shut its doors. TerraServer was used by places like the Washington Post, to investigate Syrian prison deaths, as well as by smaller publications like Bellingcat for open-source analysis.
“TerraServer, a vestigial limb of a Microsoft satellite imagery project from the 1990s, charged users a few hundred dollars a year for full access to its suite of high-definition satellite imagery, a much lower fee than other commercial services. Unlike Google Earth and similar free tools, TerraServer “was relatively up to date compared to other cheap and free services,” Eliot Higgins, founder of independent investigative collective Bellingcat, told Motherboard. This made it indispensable for investigations into human rights abuses in places difficult for journalists to access.” - Vice