COVID-19 misinformation in Taiwan & Brazil and support for Indian journalists reporting during the pandemic
This week we have updates on the impact of COVID-19 in different regions. As COVID-19 community transmission surges in Taiwan, the island is witnessing disinformation campaigns that are trying to trigger panic. In Brazil, a recent research finds WhatsApp to be the main source of misinformation related to the pandemic. India has lost at least 474 journalists to COVID-19; more voices are calling for protection and safety of journalists reporting from the field. Ekta, a consortium of six Indian fact-checking groups has addressed misinformation related to the pandemic over the last two months. Meedan's recent blog post highlights the work done by the consortium.
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Amnesty International calls for Google to halt cloud business in Saudi Arabia (The Verge)
Amnesty International is teaming up with 38 other human rights groups and individuals to call for a halt to Google’s plans to set up an enterprise cloud business in Saudi Arabia because of concerns over the country’s human rights track record.
The joint statement — signed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Media Matters for Democracy, among others — calls for Google to end its plans in Saudi Arabia until the company conducts a public human rights assessment and makes it clear what kinds of government requests for data it won’t honor. Even more important, the letter writers state, is conducting that investigation in the open, actually consulting with the people Google could inadvertently help Saudi Arabia to hurt, and speaking to groups in the country who can better understand the issues there.
According to Access Now, Google told concerned groups that it had conducted an independent human rights assessment of its future cloud region and taken steps to address issues it had identified. But the company didn’t share what those issues were or what it did, motivating in part the groups and individuals calling out the company today.
Fake news alert: Taiwan fights disinformation as COVID surges (Al Jazeera)
Ever since the declaration of community transmission of COVID in May, Taiwan has witnessed disinformation campaigns trying to trigger discord and panic in the island. Authorities and researchers say that China is behind these campaigns and that it is a 'cognitive warfare' against the Taiwanese. Previously, fake news and propaganda posts from China were easy to spot: simplified Chinese (used on the the mainland) would occasionally creep in or contain words that the Taiwanese themselves would find odd. But this time round the new cache of posts seemed far more credible. A new wave of audio messages funded by Chinese government agencies is now making the rounds. According to a 2020 report from American cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, local Taiwanese are now paid between $730 and $1,460 a month to produce social media posts – close to the average monthly wage on the island – to write and voice these scripts.
“Compared to last year, this year is much worse and serious misinformation and one of the reasons the public is in panic.” — Robin Lee, project manager of MyGoPen, an independent fact-checking site in Taiwan
WhatsApp leads the ranking of misinformation about Covid-19 on digital platforms in Brazil (Yahoo Finance)
WhatsApp in Brazil seems to be the king of misinformation when it comes to Covid-19 on digital platforms. Messenger is the main means of sharing false news about the pandemic on the internet. These are findings of a research that was done by the Reuters Institute for Journalism Studies at Oxford University.
Overall, adding data from all countries studied, Facebook (and its other network, Instagram) is the environment in which the greatest number of misinformation about Covid-19 circulates, accounting for around 30% of fake traffic news. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp are second at 26% and other platforms with YouTube and Google third at 23%.
As Indian journalists' death toll reaches 474, more voices call for COVID-19 protection (Reuters Institute)
By the end of May, at least 474 Indian journalists have died of COVID-19, according to a database compiled by the Network of Women in Media India (NWMI). In most cases, the deaths of these journalists were directly linked to the nature of their job: they were reporting from the field.
At greatest risk, according to award-winning journalist P Sainath, are journalists reporting from rural areas without easy access to vaccines or good healthcare.
"Media houses need to ensure the safety and health of the journalists working for them.... Journalists with co-morbidities or aged parents at home shouldn't be forced to report on the ground. [...] Also with added work pressure and the looming threat of layoffs, it has become all too natural for journalists to put their personal safety at risk for that ‘important story’ or their next ‘big break’." — Dhanya Rajendran, media entrepreneur and founder of TheNewsMinute
What’s new at Meedan
Over a Month Of Ekta's Collaborative Fact-checks in India
Ekta is a consortium of six Indian fact-checking groups to address misinformation in a collaborative manner. Over the past weeks, Ekta has covered misinformation around the West Bengal election, post-poll violence, COVID-19, oxygen shortage in hospitals during the current surge in viral infections, alternative treatments of COVID-19, vaccines and conspiracy theories about the pandemic. This post captures highlights of blog posts from Ekta showcasing the work of the coalition.