Each month, our experts at Cyabra list some of the interesting articles, items, essays and stories they’ve read this month. Come back every month for the current misinformation, disinformation, and social threat intelligence news.
Tech layoffs ravage the teams that fight online misinformation and hate speech
“Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and Twitter have all drastically reduced the size of their teams focused on internet trust and safety as well as ethics as the companies focus on cost cuts.
As part of Meta’s mass layoffs, the company ended a fact-checking project that had taken half a year to build, according to people familiar with the matter.”
“What happened to the people who fell down the rabbit hole into a world of conspiracy theories during the pandemic? How far have they fallen, and how far will they go? In this 10-part series, the BBC’s Disinformation and Social Media Correspondent Marianna Spring investigates the legacy left by the rise in conspiracy movements in the UK and the media machine sitting at its heart.”
To Safeguard Democracy, Political Ads Should Disclose Use Of AI
“In early April a number of fake AI generated images of President Trump mug shots circulated online, and later that month the Republican National Committee (RNC) responded to President Biden’s re-election campaign with an AI-generated ad. In May there were accusations of AI being used in deceptive political ads in the lead up to Turkey’s elections.”
Fake social media profiles wage “organised” propaganda campaign on Cop28
“When taken together, they appear to be engaged in an orchestrated attempt to promote the UAE. “This is definitely organised”, Marc Owen Jones told Climate Home News. ” The accounts are part of a coordinated network, using the same modus operandi.” He says the accounts appear to carry out a strategic communication campaign promoting the Cop28, among other UAE policy matters. “A lot of their efforts go towards damage limitation. Whenever there is negative content about Cop28, they swing into action to try and balance the narrative, muddy the waters,” he added.”
‘Fake Putin’ announces Russia under attack as Ukraine goes on offensive
Hackers broadcast a fake emergency televised appeal from a computer-generated Russian President Vladimir Putin declaring martial law after Ukrainian troops crossed into Russian territory, the Kremlin told state media on Monday.
‘Trump Bucks’ websites taken down after buyers fall for fake currency
“Purchased in the form of coins, checks and cards, as part of a “Trump Rebate Banking System”, Trump Bucks were sold as a potentially highly valuable tender that would be made legal when Trump returned to power. Advertisements on social media were sophisticated, using AI-generated narration and celebrity endorsements eventually revealed to be fake.”
