The good-bad conundrum of social media and AI
As worries of the wrong use of ChatGPT and deepfakes rise, we bring you yet another example of how AI can help advance human rights.
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In this edition of the Checklist we highlight the arrest of three journalists in Egypt who work for Mada Masr, one of the few remaining independent newsrooms in the country, for offending parliamentarians on social media. In China, with rising restrictions on LGBTQ content, social media platform Xiaohongshu has emerged as a safe space for the community to express themselves. And, in Myanmar a UN-appointed independent rights expert panel has called for social media companies to resist the junta’s online campaigns of terror and not contribute to human rights abuses.
Even as ChatGPT and deep fakes cause worry of being used by bad actors, we’d like to share with you an impact story of Meedan partners who used AI to investigate weapons trafficking and human rights violations.
Also, take a look at the Townsquare section where we share opportunities and events.
If there are updates you would like us to share from your country or region, please reach out to us at checklist@meedan.com.
The Check Global Report
By Meedan’s Check Global team in Beirut, Kochi, Bhimtal, and Nairobi
Journalists go on trial in Egypt for ‘offending MPs’ (The Guardian)
Three journalists from Egypt’s last remaining independent news outlet have gone on trial in Cairo on charges of misusing social media and offending members of parliament. Rana Mamdouh, Sara Seif Eddin and Beesan Kassab, who work for the Mada Masr news platform, face up to two years in prison and fines if the court convicts them.
“We will be present before judicial authorities as requested, despite the transgressions upon the freedom of the press entailed in the legal steps that have been taken so far, and the fact that they override alternative routes to accountability that would impinge less on press freedoms.” — Lina Attalah, editor in chief, Mada Masr’s said in a statement posted on social media
Xiaohongshu becomes an online oasis for trans people in China (Rest of world)
In recent years, Chinese authorities have tightened their grip on queer expression, shutting down LGBTQ student group accounts on WeChat, erasing same-sex content from Weibo. In this environment, Xiaohongshu has emerged as a safe space for trans people to express and advocate for themselves. It is one of the few Chinese social media platforms that mentions “diversity” and “gender equality” in its community guidelines, and encourages users to “safeguard the dignity of marginalized groups”.
“Deleting all LGBT content is the most convenient way to respond to government directives.” — Wang Shuaishuai, assistant professor, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
“When posting on Weibo, only users with many followers get attention… On Xiaohongshu, even new users like me have a chance to be heard.” — Fannan, a trans woman and an art student based in Chengdu.
Myanmar: Social media companies urged to stand up to junta (UN News)
UN-appointed independent rights experts on Myanmar have urged social media companies to do more to resist the military junta’s “online campaign of terror”. In an appeal to internet chat platforms to monitor content more carefully and allocate sufficient resources to do so, the rights experts warned that Telegram in particular had become “a hotbed of pro-military activity”.
“Every day, women are being threatened online with sexualised violence because they are standing up for human rights, opposing the military’s attempted rule, and fighting for a return to a democratic path….Tech companies must ensure that their services do not contribute to human rights abuses, including gender-based violence and discrimination, arbitrary arrest, the right to privacy, and the suppression of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, both online and offline, and association.” — UN-appointed independent rights experts in a statement.
Meedan Impact Story: Using AI to investigate weapons trafficking and human rights violations
Meedan partner VFRAME develops computer vision technology that allows human rights researchers and investigative journalists to scrutinize objects in war zones. Together with human rights and war crime investigators at Mnemonic, the collaborators are reaching breakthroughs in conflict zone investigative techniques.
In one project the partners were able to detect evidence of cluster munitions in around 1,000 videos. Cluster munitions are air-dropped bombs that release smaller bomblets and pose risks to civilians both during attacks and afterwards. They are prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Townsquare
April 7, 2023
Rest of World Labor x Tech Reporting Fellowship: Call for applications from journalists from Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America to produce a deeply reported body of work on how tech impacts labor and workers around the world.
May 1, 2023
The Fund for Investigative Journalism (FIJ): The Fund for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) announced its latest fund to support investigative projects in the US.
May 31, 2023
Workshop on OSINT: Open Source Intelligence and Investigative Journalism: Tools, Tips, and Best Practices with Roman Hoefner an investigative journalist at Der Spiegel.
What else we’re reading
Meedan’s Op-Ed on the US Supreme Court’s decision on Section 230 and how it will determine the future of the internet
This Rest of World report presents a data analysis of the downturn in global tech
The Knight Institute’s Arvind Narayanan writes on how to understand social media recommendation algorithms
Atlantic’s piece on the potential use of new AI systems such as ChatGPT by bad actors to engineer falsehoods at unprecedented scale
Stuart Thompson writes in the New York Times on the ease of generating deep fakes using A.I
Reuters Institute factsheet analyses the gender breakdown of leadership in the news media in 12 markets