Catching viral misinformation on tiplines in India and the Philippines
We hope you had a great week. In this issue we have updates from Brazil, Ethiopia, India and the Philippines. Understanding the local context is critical while addressing potentially dangerous and harmful content on social media. In Ethiopia, Facebook's inability to respond to misinformation and hate speech on the platform is primarily because it lacks context.
Check out our update from the Philippines where Meedan's partner VERA Files has launched the first-ever public misinformation tipline on Viber in the Asia Pacific region. Their truth bot VERA, guides users to send suspicious content to the tipline. In this issue of The Checklist, you will also meet Rakesh Dubbudu, founder of Factly, our partner in India. Rakesh talks about the use of their WhatsApp tipline to address misinformation on the messaging app.
That's it for your weekly roundup of misinformation news, updates and threats. Please share your feedback and invite your friends to sign up here.
The latest top stories
Content about politics is the biggest vector of disinformation on Facebook in Brazil (Estadão)
Internal Facebook documents obtained by Estadão show that political content is the biggest vector of disinformation in Brazil, according to the perception of the users of the social network. The study prepared by Mark Zuckerberg's company tries to map the main categories of material responsible for spreading "civic misinformation", a term used by the company to refer to misleading publications related to politics and democracy. The revelation is contained in "Facebook Papers", a package of company documents released to an international consortium of vehicles, including Estadão, New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian and Le Monde.
Regarding the document that brings the survey on the perception of Brazilians, Facebook says: "The results of this survey do not measure the prevalence or quantity of a certain type of content on our services. The survey shows people's perception of the content that they see on our platforms. These insights are important, but they depend on a number of factors, including cultural context." Results from the company's other services were also included: WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. In these apps, Brazil stands out for the large amount of misinformation via articles on websites, with 60% of the content perceived on WhatsApp. Political messages appear in second place, with 50%, and advertising comes behind, with 49% of the content in the messenger.
How Facebook Is Stoking a Civil War in Ethiopia (VICE)
Amidst an ongoing conflict in Ethiopia, researchers and journalists in the country say that Facebook is being used to spread hate speech and misinformation. While the platform has taken down potentially harmful content, such as a post by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that called for the 'burying' of Tigrayan rebel forces approaching the country's capital, the bulk of fact-checking and moderation often falls to a group of volunteers who send Facebook spreadsheets of posts to investigate and frequently have to explain to staffers why content on their platform is dangerous.
"[Facebook] completely lacks context. Every time we talk to them, they’re asking for context. That’s been a big issue—they don’t understand what’s happening in the country. The reporting system is not working. The proactive technology, which is AI, doesn’t work" — Berhan Taye, independent researcher documenting online hate in Ethiopia
2019 Lok Sabha Election: Towards End of Polls, Facebook Deployed Emergency Measures to Curb Misinfo (The Wire)
Facebook brought in emergency measures to curb misinformation towards the end of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, according to internal company documents reviewed by The Wire. These measures — called internally as ‘break-the-glass’ steps, a reference to how fire alarms are usually placed in glass boxes that have to be broken — were brought on partly in response to higher user reports.
Internal documents also describe how the company saw, ahead of the last round of polling, what it describes as an “escalation” from Bengal — specifically, videos which talked of an “alleged Hindu exodus from certain areas under threat from Muslims.”
“A few days before round six of polling, an out of context West Bengal road accident video exhibited signs of virality. Captions in the violating posts depicted Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants in West Bengal as ‘terrorists’ and ‘intruders’ and claimed they were attacking Central Forces,” Facebook employees wrote in an internal report titled ‘India Elections: A Case Study, Part 2’.
Meet VERA, the #truthbot in VERA Files (VERA Files)
As the world has grappled with a pandemic and an infodemic, false information doesn’t just mislead people. It has real-world effects on health, such as on people’s health-seeking behavior.
As the Philippine presidential election nears, there are more false and misleading information than ever.
This is why VERA Files Fact Check is introducing VERA, a bot that can be your friend and ally in fighting disinformation and misinformation.
The VERA Files Misinformation Tip Line is the first-ever public misinformation tip line on Viber in the Asia Pacific region. Powered by technology from Meedan, VERA, the truth bot, guides users through the tip line.
We believe in the power that everyone has to contribute to the spread of truthful information. If you see a dubious post or statement that you’d like to get fact-checked, we encourage you to send it to our tip line. — VERA Files
What’s new at Meedan
Catching viral misinformation early: Factly’s tipline use in India
Factly, a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network’s (IFCN) Code of Principles is a leading fact-checking group in India and in the Telugu speaking states of the country. Since 2013, the organization has been involved in transforming the public information landscape in India by improving access & understanding of the common public about important government data/information. In this interview, we speak to Rakesh Dubbudu, founder and Editorial Lead of Factly, about how Factly came about, ventured into fact-checking and the use of their WhatsApp tipline to address misinformation.