texas-moody

False News and Disinformation

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Venezuelan government spreads propaganda with AI-generated avatars

"A blond man presents a report for 'House of News En Español,' a pretend English-language newscast in which he tries to show that Venezuela's economy is not 'so destroyed,' because hotel occupancy for the upcoming Carnival holiday is already fully booked by Venezuelans eager to spend money on Caribbean beaches. In another video, a Black […]

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Book written by journalists and students records how disinformation is experienced in Venezuela

"On Nov. 4, the Venezuelan association Medianálisis presented the book 'Cómo se vive la desinformación' [How disinformation is experienced], written by a group of journalism students. The book consists of two parts: the first was written by practicing Venezuelan journalists and the second by senior journalism students in different universities in Venezuela. In the text, […]

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Venezuelan journalists abroad join Factchequeado's alliance against disinformation

"The Association of Venezuelan Journalists Abroad (APEVEX, by its Spanish acronym) has joined the Factchequeado alliance to spread the reach of Spanish-language fact-checked content aimed at Hispanic and Latino communities. Factchequeado is an initiative led by Maldita.es, the first Spanish non-profit fact-checking media created to combat misinformation in Spain, and Chequeado, the first fact-checking organization […]

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Brazilian presidential communications agency paid almost U.S. $600,000 to broadcast false and misleading Bolsonaro speeches

"A report by fact-checking agency Aos Fatos revealed that Secom [Special Secretariat for Social Communication of the Brazilian Presidency] paid 3.2 million reais [more than U.S. $590,000] to Brazil's public communication company [EBC], between January and May of this year, to broadcast events in which Bolsonaro disseminated at least 287 false and misleading statements. The […]

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Facebook fails to tackle election disinformation ads ahead of tense Brazilian election; according to investigation

“Facebook’s self-proclaimed efforts to safeguard election integrity in Brazil appear to be failing, as our new investigation uncovers.  Our investigation finds that Facebook appallingly failed to detect election-related disinformation in ads  in the run-up to the Brazilian election on 2 October 2022. Tensions are high in Brazil, with the growing threat of disinformation – that […]

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Webinar: Brazil Elections 2022 - Research Tips

"The state of democracy in the world is at its lowest point in decades. Across the globe, free and fair elections face increasing threats from disinformation campaigns, foreign interference, rising authoritarianism, and more. In Brazil, added to this scenario is the constant questioning of the validity of the electoral system, incited by President Jair Bolsonaro […]

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Should Google pay for news in Brazil? It’s complicated

"(...) The payment for news content was a hushed addition to a draft legislation whose stated aim is to mitigate the effects of disinformation. Dubbed the “Fake News Bill,” it would force tech giants to have an office in Brazil and to be more transparent and accountable about their users in the country as well […]

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Social networks close partnership with Brazil's Electoral Tribunal, but do not clarify how they will combat disinformation

"In 2018, information on social networks was decisive for part of the Brazilian electorate to choose who to vote for: according to a survey by the DataSenado Institute, about 45 percent of respondents decided on their vote considering what they saw on some network. According to the survey, 79 percent used WhatsApp as one of […]

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In Brazil, Telegram adds measures to block misleading information ahead of elections

"Telegram was evading emails from Brazilian authorities for months, until mid-March this year, when the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled to ban the application over misinformation concerns ahead of the country’s elections. Two days later, Telegram complied with the court’s requests, which included deleting a few of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s posts and suspending the account […]

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Inside Brazil's dangerous battle over fake news

"The battle over what is true or false, who gets to decide, and whether and how to punish offenders, is tearing at the very fabric of [Brazil's] young democracy. Fake news is badly eroding the public’s faith in Brazil’s voting system ahead of presidential elections in 2022. It is also at the heart of a […]

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Registration open for Global Fact 8, conference for fact-checking around the world

Global Fact 8, a conference on fact-checking around the world that's organized by he International Fact-Checking Network at the Poynter Institute, will be held from Oct. 20 to 23, 2021. "This year’s Global Fact will take place virtually for the second time after meeting in person for years all around the world in cities such […]

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Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru sign declaration to combat electoral disinformation

"Representatives of electoral institutions from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru signed a declaration in Quito with the aim of jointly combating false news and disinformation generated around electoral processes. [...] Among the commitments of the meeting, the participants reiterated their intention to continuously apply good regional practices for verifying information (factchecking) and actions against disinformation […]