Fake News: Governments, Elections and Fake News

Hannaa Tameez reports on how Fake news, misinformation, and disinformation will be major concerns in the 2020 presidential election.

Joe Killian reports on how “Satirical” Facebook site sought to promote Trump’s re-election.

Readers submitted more than 4,000 examples of misinformation to the New York Times. Here are the different types being spread this election season.

Steven D'Souza reports on the efforts to combat fake news around the 2018 US mid-terms.

Readers submitted more than 4,000 examples of misinformation to the New York Times. Here are the different types being spread this election season.

Wired counters some of the misinformation disseminated during the mid-terms.

The Computational Propaganda Project reviews misinformation on various sources and channels.

Paul Chadwick from The Guardian reports on the EU's new Code of Practice on disinformation.

ALEX KRASODOMSKI-JONES and JOSH SMITH from Wired report on the EU elections.

Daniel Boffey writes in the Guardian about the fight against fake news before the elections.

Kelvin Chan, Lorne Cook and Aritz Parra from The Washington Post examine which organisations are disseminating fake news.

Issie Lepowsky from Wired looks at some of the Facebook posts that have been circulating during the run-up to the elections.

Rory Cellan-Jones from the BBC looks at the two main social media platforms.

The European Parliament passed a resolution on Wednesday (13 March) warning against propaganda and disinformation campaigns ahead of the May 2019 EU elections, citing Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as the main sources.

More resources, better coordination between States and collaboration between digital platforms and media, to combat disinformation and ensure free and fair European elections.

Julian King from The Guardian reports on how member states are joining forces with social media platforms to tackle the menace of fake news and data misuse.

Social media groups which encouraged support for UK political parties in the build up to the European elections were targets for fake news and polarising content with links to the far right, a Newsnight investigation has found.

All the background information and discussion around the new Code of Practice on Disinformation.

Monique Goyens, Director General of BEUC - The European Consumer Organisation - expresses concern of the possibility of fake news affecting EU elections.

In this in-depth analysis, Andrea Renda argues that the current policy initiatives adopted by the European Commission are meaningful, but still incomplete.

A blog post by Karen Kornbluh reports on recent initiatives announced by the European Commission, France, and the G7 to increase transparency of international adverts on social media policy.

The Commission announced the launch of a public consultation and the creation of a high-level expert group to help the European Union develop a strategy to stop the spread of fake news.

The Communication "Tackling online disinformation: a European approach" sets out the views of the Commission on the challenges associated with disinformation online.

Information on how the Digital Market Commission is tackling fake news.

In January 2018, the European Commission set up a high-level group of experts ("the HLEG") to advise on policy initiatives to counter fake news and disinformation spread online. The main deliverable of the HLEG was a report designed to review best practices in the light of fundamental principles, and suitable responses stemming from such principles.

This Flash Eurobarometer is designed to explore EU citizens’ awareness of and attitudes towards the existence of fake news and disinformation online. It covers the following issues: - Levels of trust in news and information accessed through different channels; - People’s perceptions of how often they encounter news or information that is misleading or false; - Public confidence in identifying news or information that is misleading or false; - People’s views on the extent of the problem, both in their own country and for democracy in general; - Views on which institutions and media actors should act to stop the spread of fake news.

The European Union's efforts to fight against online misinformation have come up against legal action.

Last week, three media sites in The Netherlands filed a lawsuit against an EU project aimed at curbing online misinformation.

Emilio Ferrara investigates a disinformation campaign in the lead-up to the 2017 French elections.

Euronews reports on the meeting between the French President and Mark Zuckerberg.

Measure requires social media platforms to remove obviously illegal hate speech and other postings within 24 hours of receiving a notification.

WhatsApp users in Spain are being subjected to disinformation and hateful memes at a rate that has outpaced similar malicious content on such platforms as YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.

Alex Hern from the Guardian looks at how the big names in social media have "cleaned up their act" since 2016.

Facebook is opening up a war room to quickly respond to election hoaxes. Twitter is banning political ads. Google plans to crack down on bogus videos on YouTube.
Social media platforms say they are mounting a vigorous campaign against misinformation in the lead up to next month's general election in the United Kingdom.

Mattha Busby, Isaan Khan and Eve Watling from First Draft break down and analyse the different kinds of misinformation for the upcoming election.

FullFact have published a research paper on how to fact check effectively.

Facebook lay out how they have prepared for the election.

Jon Stone of The Independent reports on the EU's warnings about political disinformation still being rife on social media sites.

Government announces a range of new measures to crack down on intimidation, influence and disinformation, and safeguard UK elections.

Alex Hern in The Guardian reports on the UK Parliament demanding to know why Facebook has decided to exempt political statements from its fact-checking programme – removing all bars on political candidates lying in paid adverts.

From the BBC. A fake social media video where Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn endorse each other for prime minister has been posted online in an attempt to show the potential of so-called 'deepfake' videos to undermine democracy.

Frances Perraudin in The Guardian reports on the Conservatives being under fire after rebranding account as factchecking service during leaders’ debate.

BBC live feed of the first Johnson v Corbyn debate.

The BBC's Reality Check Team fact check the claims made during the first Johnson v Corbyn debate.

Rowena Mason in The Guardian reports on the Prime Minister's deflection of questions about the Twitter row.

Rory Cellan-Jones reports on how the inventor of the World Wide Web has accused the Conservatives of spreading misinformation during the general election campaign.

James Ball from The Guardian writes about how political parties have been using social media.

The volume of disinformation on the internet is growing so big that it is starting to crowd out real news, the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairman has said.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee has been investigating disinformation and fake news following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, reports the BBC.

On the Criminal Law blog, Associate Elena Matsa looks into whether the UK needs laws to combat fake news.

A Telegraph article reporting that the government has banned the term “fake news” after urging ministers to use “misinformation” or "disinformation" instead.

Gian Volpicelli from Wired looks at the work done by the DCMS select committee.

BBC report on the UK government's plans to create an anti-fake news unit.

Transcript of Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Jeremy Wright speech at the ISPA UK Parliament and Internet Conference

This independent report presents an overview of challenges facing high quality journalism in the UK, putting forward recommendations to help secure its future.

Jane Wakefield from the BBC reports on MPs' calls for stricter regulation around Facebook.

In the lead-up to the EU Parliamentary elections, the BBC report on what the bug social media companies are doing to combat misinformation

The UK's struggle to implement Brexit has served as an antidote against "anti-EU propaganda and fake news", according to European Council President Donald Tusk.

Bradley Hanlon reports on how Russia influence operations have exploited a variety of social media platforms.

A blog post by Facebook reporting on the removal of Facebook and Instagram accounts created by the Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA).

Erik Brattberg and Tim Maurer reported on how Sweden worked to ensure that the election of a new prime minister and parliament in September was free from hacking and interference.

Chris Watts reports on Russia’s latest iteration of the Soviet-era tactic of “active measures”.

An in-depth look into Russia's "active measures" programme.

A RAND Corporation study examined Russian-language content on social media and the broader propaganda threat posed to the region of former Soviet states that include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and, to a lesser extent, Moldova and Belarus.

Lauren Chadwick and Matthew Holroyd from EuroNews report on Russian bots targeting millions of Europeans.

WhatsApp has proved to be the ideal tool for mobilizing political support – and for spreading fake news.

An article on how Google is planning to combat misinformation in the South Africa elections.

Africa Check - keeping an eye on the South Africa election.

Ahead of the presidential election, the campaigns themselves have become combatants in the information war.

Julie Carrie Wong in The Guardian reports on the condemnation of Facebook’s decision to allow politicians to promote content already rated false by factcheckers.