Mythmaking prevails in the Philippines
Updates from Brazil, Nigeria & Libya
Hey Checklisters!
We hope you’re staying safe and healthy.
In this edition, we look at what the landslide victory of a former dictator’s son in the presidential elections signifies for people in the Philippines and the world outside. Maria Ressa and her staff at Rappler exposed the Marcos family’s false narratives, but social-media mythmaking prevailed in a historic election in the Philippines.
As Brazil prepares for general elections in October 2022, this report presents an update on an agreement between the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and Telegram, on the creation of a mechanism to clarify voters' doubts .
This report from The Washington Post looks at how millions of people online are able to watch extremist and/or violent content, such as that related to the Buffalo shooting in the United States in May 2002.
If there are updates you would like us to share from your country or region, please reach out to us at checklist@meedan.com.
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The latest top stories
The Triumph of Marcos Dynasty Disinformation Is a Warning to the U.S. (The New Yorker)
As the polls in the Philippines had closed, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., the son and namesake of the former Philippine dictator, was leading by a margin so wide it was clear he would soon be President. Maria Ressa and her staff at Rappler exposed the family’s false narratives, but social-media mythmaking prevailed in a historic election in the Philippines.
“This election is emblematic of everything that needs to be fought globally,” What the tech platforms have done is to kill the good in people because their incentive structure allows the bad, the click-baiting anger and hate, the lies to proliferate.” — Maria Ressa, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist and founder of Rappler
“When those election results came in, we realized just how formidable the enemy was. To me, as a journalist, it means I had not done enough to counter disinformation.” — Mara Cepeda, a Rappler reporter
"If, in a Duterte Presidency, the main issue was human rights, in a Marcos Presidency it would be truth. I don’t know what’s worse, someone who doesn’t value life or someone who doesn’t value truth. The challenge was reaching out to Filipinos who now inhabit an information universe beyond Rappler’s reach. Maybe, through listening, patience, humility, journalists can connect with them." — Chay Hofileña, a senior editor, Rappler
Brazilian Superior Electoral Court (TSE) announces formalization of partnership with Telegram app to combat fake news (Globo)
Telegram is one of the main channels used by Bolsonaristas. The agreement provides for the TSE's official channel on the platform and the creation of a mechanism to clarify voters' doubts.The agreement announced this Tuesday also provides for the creation of an extrajudicial channel for the TSE to make complaints in the app. In such cases, Telegram will carry out an internal investigation to determine whether there has been a violation of the platform's terms of service and policies.
"This step once again puts the Superior Electoral Court at the forefront of the world in the fight against disinformation, towards the holding of the October elections. And so we move forward, firm in the purpose of defending democracy." — President of the TSE, Minister Edson Fachin
Ipob: Nigerian 'media warriors' call for killings on social media over Biafra (BBC News)
A BBC investigation has uncovered a network of Nigerian separatists based outside the country using social media to call for violence and incite ethnic hatred in Nigeria targeting opponents of Biafran independence. The Republic of Biafra, a separatist region in the south of Nigeria, declared independence in 1967, resulting in a three year civil war. One of the ways the network of separatists is avoiding detection is by switching to local languages that are less well moderated, using their content to incite ethnic Igbo people, who are mainly Christian and from the south, against those from the Fulani ethnic group, who are predominantly Muslim and from the north.
"Social media has been Ipob (the Indigenous People of Biafra)'s most successful tool in achieving most of what it wants to achieve today. It seems Facebook has really really gone to sleep. It does not think that these comments, these posts that they do on Facebook have consequences" — Nicholas Ibekwe, Nigerian investigative journalist
Libyan PM Fathi Bashagha claims his column in ‘The Times’ is fake news (The National News, Mena)
Libyan Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha has distanced himself from a first-person article published under his name by The Times newspaper, saying he was “surprised” by the content. In a tweet from his verified account on Wednesday, he said the British paper’s opinion piece was “mere lies” and “fake news”.
The Times rejected Mr Bashagha's accusation.
“I was surprised by an article attributed to me and published in the English newspaper The Times. I wish that this respected and time-honoured newspaper had fact-checked reports first and stuck to accuracy in order not to publish fake news.” — Libyan PM Fathi Bashagha
Only 22 saw the Buffalo shooting live. Millions have seen it since. (The Washington Post)
When the Buffalo gunman broadcast the shooting in real time Saturday on the live-streaming site Twitch, only 22 people were watching, and company officials said they’d removed it with remarkable speed — within two minutes of the first gunshots. But all it took was for one viewer to save a copy and redistribute it online. A jumble of video-hosting sites, extremist message boards and some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names did the rest, ensuring millions of people would view the video.
“It’s a perennial problem” in the tech industry....No company ever raised money because of how good its content-moderation system was.” — Emerson T. Brooking, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab
What’s new at Meedan
2022 French Elections: Meedan software supported Agence-France Presse
Meedan worked with AFP’s fact-checking unit to build infrastructure across multiple social media platforms to monitor and debunk false and misleading claims surrounding the 2022 French elections.
The global news service used Meedan’s Check software to bring in claims from Facebook Messenger, Twitter and WhatsApp, debunk them, and then send them back out to social media users. In total, the project brought in more than 2,000 conversations between social media users and AFP journalists, and led to more than 900 fact-checks published to audiences.