Reflections from Meedan on Maria Ressa's Nobel prize & Facebook's hate speech problem in Africa
We hope you had a great week. Our excitement about the Nobel prize win of Maria Ressa, Rappler founder and Meedan board member, has still not settled. In this issue of Checklist, we bring you her interview with Times magazine on her thoughts of being awarded the Nobel prize.
We look at how Facebook is facing criticism for being a vehicle of hate speech in Nigeria and Ethiopia due to poor monitoring of content in indigenous languages. The impacts are worrisome which include the amplification of division, extremism, and polarisation in these countries. We also highlight the announcement of a media education program for the elderly in Brazil to equip them to navigate the internet and fight misinformation.
Finally, do hop on to our blogpost on what Maria Ressa's Nobel prize win means to Meedan. In this post, women team members at Meedan, share reflections and perspectives.
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'It Is a Battle for Facts.' What Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Ressa Understands About Why She Was Chosen (Time)
Born in Manila and raised in New Jersey, Ressa, who is 58, worked for CNN for years, then in 2012 co-founded Rappler, a vibrant online news site in the Philippines. Four years later an incendiary populist named Rodrigo Duterte was elected President of a country where, a practical matter, Facebook is the Internet. Rappler exposed the hidden hand of his supporters in viral posts, trolls and malign disinformation, as well as the feebleness of Facebook’s efforts to police itself. Since then Ressa has lived at the dangerous intersection of despotism and social media.
"It is a battle for facts. And we’re at the front line, and it has gotten far more dangerous than it has been in the past. I think that also shows the role of the journalists in fixing this and fixing the mess that we’re in right now.......It just shows the role that journalists play because it goes back to without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. How can you have democracy without that? This is the fabric that holds us together: the shared reality." -- Maria Ressa
Ethiopia – Nigeria: Facebook criticised for allowing hate speech to flourish (the africa report)
Facebook has been criticised for allowing its platform to be used to spread hate speech in sharply polarised countries like Nigeria and Ethiopia. This has been attributed to a lack of moderation in non-English pages and few content moderators in Africa, as well as the omission of ‘Community Guidelines’ in local languages, resulting in a blind spot for safety on the platform.
"The result has been a system that amplifies division, extremism, and polarisation — and [undermines] societies around the world. In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people" -- Frances Haugen, whistleblower and former Facebook employee
Project wants to train seniors so that they recognize and defend themselves from fake news (CartaCapital)
The Project EducaMídia 60+ offers free content for seniors to safely browse the networks and fight misinformation
“There is a lack of understanding of how to critically analyze the large volume of information that comes to us. How to separate fact from opinion, how to identify advertising content within a social network, how to critically analyze information that arrives through a formal communication vehicle, a blog or other channels. It was in this context that we started to think about the importance of formatting an informational media education program.......The percentage of people over 60 in the country with access to the world wide web has grown from 68% to 97% in the last four years. This new era of connection has promoted debates and initiatives to help this audience. And it is in this context that EducaMídia60+ intends to act: as a service to society" -- Presidente Executiva at Instituto Palavra Aberta
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What Maria Ressa’s Nobel Peace Prize win means to Meedan
Maria Ressa’s Nobel prize is also an accomplishment for women leading the fights for equality, social justice and freedom of speech across different areas and regions. As Meedan celebrates Maria Ressa’s Nobel award, women team members at Meedan, share reflections and perspectives on what this prize means to us.