Social networks

Fact Check: Fake Footage of Russian Warships in Cuba
The arrival of Russian navy ships, some carrying advanced weapons, off the coast of Havana has given rise to online disinformation. Some analysts breathlessly warned of a new Cuban Missile Crisis. But the story was fake news, using old footage and clever editing.
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Banning Fake News Traffickers Online Improved Public Discourse
When Twitter banned more than 70,000 traffickers of false information from its platform in the wake of the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the impact went beyond the silencing of those users. A new study found that the crackdown by Twitter also significantly reduced the number of misinformation posts by users who stayed on the platform but had been following those who were kicked off.
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Joint Efforts Needed to Combat Disinformation
The spread of fake news is destabilizing societies and fueling anti-democratic movements around the world. Collaborative efforts are needed to tackle the problem, says a new report.
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The ‘Dead Internet Theory’ Makes Eerie Claims About an AI-run Web. The Truth Is More Sinister
Is most of the content on the internet fake? Here’s what the dead internet theory really means – and why we should be warier of how we’re manipulated for profit and political gain.
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China Turns to Private Hackers as It Cracks Down on Online Activists on Tiananmen Square Anniversary
Chinese authorities restrict the flow of information online by banning search terms, scanning social media for subversive messages and blocking access to foreign media and applications that may host censored content. Control of online activity is particularly stringent around the anniversary of the protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989 that ended with a bloody crackdown on demonstrators by troops on June 4 of that year.
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Sounding the Alarm: Exposing Audio Deepfake
Audio deepfakes are becoming ubiquitous – blurring the line between fact and fiction – but researchers are working to develop methods to help the public navigate this new technological terrain.
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China's Digital Silk Road Exports Internet Technology, Controls
A Chinese initiative known as the “Digital Silk Road” is helping Southeast Asian nations modernize their digital landscapes. But rights groups say Beijing is also exporting its model of authoritarian governance of the internet through censorship, surveillance and controls.
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Analyzing the Characteristics of AI-generated Deepfakes
Most of the deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence (AI) that spread through social media feature political representatives and artists and are often linked to current news cycles. The findings of a new research are applicable to different fields, from national security to the integrity of election campaigns.
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European Tech Law Faces Test to Address Interference, Threats, and Disinformation in 2024 Elections
The European Union (EU) began implementing the Digital Services Act (DSA) this year, just in time to combat online disinformation and other electoral interference in the dozens of elections taking place in Europe’s twenty-seven member countries and the European Parliament elections taking place June 6 through June 9.
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Militia Extremists, Kicked Off Facebook Again, Are Regaining Comfort in Public View
When journalists sounded alarm bells in early May 2024 that more than 100 extremist militia groups had been organizing and communicating on Facebook, it wasn’t the first time militias had garnered attention for their online activities. As a scholar of militias, I’ve seen extremists get kicked off Facebook before.
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Extremist Communities Continue to Rely on YouTube for Hosting, but Most Videos Are Viewed Off-Site, Research Finds
After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, YouTube was so criticized for radicalizing users by recommending increasingly extremist and fringe content that it changed its recommendation algorithm. Research four years later found that while extremist content remained on YouTube, subscriptions and external referrals drove disaffected users to extremist content rather than the recommendation algorithm.
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Can Wikipedia-like Citations on YouTube Curb Misinformation?
Videos can be dense with information: text, audio, and image after image. Yet each of these layers presents a potential source of error or deceit. And when people search for videos directly on a site like YouTube, sussing out which videos are credible sources can be tricky.
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Users Seek Out Echo Chambers on Social Media
Users are inclined to favor popular opinion; lack of exposure to dissent contributes to polarization.
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Truth and Reality with Chinese Characteristics
The Chinese Communist Party seeks to maintain total control over the information environment within China, while simultaneously working to extend its influence abroad to reshape the global information ecosystem. That includes not only controlling media and communications platforms outside China, but also ensuring that Chinese technologies and companies become the foundational layer for the future of information and data exchange worldwide.
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Banning TikTok Won’t Solve Social Media’s Foreign Influence, Teen Harm and Data Privacy Problems
Concerns about TikTok are not unfounded, but they are also not unique. Each threat posed by TikTok has also been posed by U.S.-based social media for over a decade. Lawmakers should take action to address harms caused by U.S. companies seeking profit as well as by foreign companies perpetrating espionage. Protecting Americans cannot be accomplished by banning a single app. To truly protect their constituents, lawmakers would need to enact broad, far-reaching regulation.
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