Fake trafficking stories hamper efforts to stop the real thing and 2021 as the year of surging misinformation
The Wayfair sex trafficking story this month will blow your mind (it did ours). As if that weren’t enough, we’ve got WaPo’s most popular fact-checks of 2021 and Facebook’s inability to understand the female body. Also, the Big Lie keeps doing its thing just like your offensive drunk uncle at the last family gathering.
The Checkstep Round-Up is a monthly newsletter that gives you fresh insights for content moderation, combating disinformation, fact-checking, and promoting free expression online. The editors of the newsletter are Kyle Dent and Vibha Nayak. Feel free to reach out!
Checkstep News
📣 We're excited to share our partnership with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection Inc. Checkstep is using Shield by Project Arachnid, created by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection Inc. to help detect and remove child sexual abuse material online.
📣 Our Head of AI Ethics, Kyle Dent, was recently featured in Tortoise Media’s ThinkIn. The topic was “Is Instagram good for you?”. Incase you missed it, you can watch it here: https://chk.st/32gJhTf
📣 On the occasion of Safer Internet Day, we’re hosting a Trust & Safety Breakfast in London. If you’re looking for good conversations and breakfast pastries 🥐, you can RSVP here.
In case you can’t make the in-person event, we’re also hosting an online event, with an exciting group of panelists on the topic: “Fighting online harms without gatekeepers”. You can register here.
Moderating the Marketplace of Ideas
🔞 A QAnon con: How the viral Wayfair sex trafficking lie hurt real kids (The Washington Post)
That #savethechildren tag is a lot more harmful than you might think. This in-depth article traces an all-too-common path from absurd conspiracies about child trafficking to QAnon to radical extremism. Instead of helping, would-be do-gooders are terrifying children, promoting violence, and blocking legitimate efforts to help real trafficking victims. Save a life and send this one to your crazy aunt or sister-in-law. The Atlantic covered this trend too in The Great (Fake) Child-Sex-Trafficking Epidemic.
✅ The most popular fact checks of 2021 (The Washington Post)
From the Taliban seizing $85 billion in U.S. weapons and the origin of the coronavirus to false claims about the Pfizer vaccine lacking liability protection, here’s Washington Post’s list of the most popular fact checks for 2021.
🗣️ 😡 Facebook Hosted Surge of Misinformation and Insurrection Threats in Months Leading Up to Jan. 6 Attack, Records Show — ProPublica (ProPublica)
Just days before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, tens of thousands of Facebook groups were inundated with violent threats and disinformation. Many of the posts promoted the false idea of widespread election fraud and the illegitimacy of President Biden’s win and encouraged violent confrontations with government officials.
🕵️ Tek Fog: An App With BJP Footprints for Cyber Troops to Automate Hate, Manipulate Trends (The Wire)
A whistleblower from the “secret app” Tek Fog recently revealed to The Wire the existence of an app being used by the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) for various nefarious purposes from hijacking Twitter's Trending section with targeted hashtags to creating and managing multiple WhatsApp groups affiliated with the BJP to online harassment of journalists critical of the the party.
😔 Twitter loses appeal in French content moderation trial (Politico)
Four anti-hate groups in France asked Twitter for details about their content moderation processes. Twitter said no, but a French appeals court just said au contraire. Twitter is deciding whether it’s worth taking the case to the highest court for a final decision.
🟢 Nigeria lifts ban on Twitter, says the social media giant has met conditions | TechCrunch (TechCrunch)
After nearly six months, Nigeria finally lifted its ban on Twitter. Must have been real excruciating for the platform.
⁉️ Why Did Facebook Reject These Ads? (The New York Times)
Ads from over 60 companies addressing issues related to women’s sexual health were often rejected by Facebook, for contanting “adult content” or promoting “adult products and services.” However, several male-oriented ads, that actually broke the platform’s policies, were accepted. Is it misogynistic behavior or just a lack of understanding of the female body? Researchers believe this is an easily fixable issue if Facebook decides to work on it…
😮💨 The online world still can't quit the 'Big Lie' - POLITICO (Politico)
New year, same issues. Despite increased crackdowns on misinformation, hate speech and conspiracy theories, social media platforms still run rampant with such content. All fingers point toward lawmakers for being too slow in introducing any form of regulation despite having all the necessary tools.
Remedying COVID-19 and Vaccine Misinformation
🧑⚕️ Doctors Demand Spotify Puts an End to Joe Rogan's Covid Lies - Rolling Stone (Rolling Stone)
Spotify lacks a clear policy prohibiting misinformation on their platform, and Joe Rogan’s extremely popular podcast takes advantage of that. A group of doctors and scientists have sent Spotify a letter hoping to change that with one of the co-authors calling Rogan a “menace to public health.” Neil Young is no fan either.
🦠 Covid Test Misinformation Spikes Along With Spread of Omicron (The New York Times)
The omicron variant crisis is just another opportunity for purveyors of disinformation. False claims about testing and the prevalence of infections are running rampant across social media interfering with public efforts to keep people safe and healthy.
🤰 Pregnancy apps have become a battleground of vaccine misinformation (The Washington Post)
Online communities for new parents have recently started to prioritize content moderation resulting in a tremendous reduction in scare stories, conspiracy theories, and misinformation. Smaller platforms, in general, struggle to keep up and deal with the thorny issues around public discourse.
💉 📈 The Latinx Community and COVID-Disinformation Campaigns (The New Yorker)
Misinformation in Spanish about the COVID-19 vaccine runs rampant in social media feeds, in WhatsApp messages, and in (virtual) churches. A report from First Draft reveals that religious leaders have “played a pivotal role” in the spread of COVID-19 misinformation.
Regulatory News and Updates
🇪🇺 Digital Services Act: regulating platforms for a safer online space for users | News | European Parliament (European Parliament News)
Members of the European Parliament have finally come to a consensus with respect to the text in the Digital Service Act and approved it. The approved proposal includes a ban on targeted advertising as well “dark patterns”. Definitely a major advancement with respect to regulations surrounding content moderation!
🇬🇧 UK's Online Safety Bill falls short on protecting speech and tackling harms, warns committee | TechCrunch (TechCrunch)
From vague descriptions of the different types of online harm to serious risks to freedom of expression, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee recently published a report stating all of the above and more, thereby making a strong case on how the U.K.’s Online Safety Bill falls short of truly protecting the public from online harms.
🇦🇺 Meta and Twitter want a review of Australian government's social media laws next year | ZDNet (ZDNet)
Merely days after the Australian Online Safety Act came into force, Meta and Twitter have begun questioning the effectiveness of the newly introduced regulation. No shock there, to be honest, but what remains to be seen is if Australians will be subjected to yet another social media blackout, in an effort to show who’s boss.
⌛ 🇺🇸 Efforts to Rein In Big Tech May Be Running Out of Time (The New York Times)
A lot of talk but no action. As Senators keep pondering the best way to rein in Big Tech, they might be nearly out of time, with the November election soon approaching.
🚫 Democrats unveil bill to ban online 'surveillance advertising' (The Verge)
Following in the footsteps of the E.U., U.S. Democrats have proposed the The Banning Surveillance Advertising Act, which would force Big Tech companies to radically change their advertising models.
🏛️ Government to strengthen rules on misleading cryptocurrency adverts (GOV.UK)
Not long after Singapore and Spain introduced new laws to increase transparency surrounding cryptocurrency advertising and its associated risks, the U.K. government also plans to bring in new regulations to limit misleading crypto asset promotions.
⚖️ New UK law means online racist abusers could face 10-year bans from football | Soccer | The Guardian (The Guardian)
The British Home Secretary is taking a strong stance against racism by proposing legislation that would mandate a ten-year ban on anyone caught posting racist abuse online.
📜 No one reads the terms of service. Lawmakers want to fix that with a new 'TLDR' bill. - The Washington Post (The Washington Post)
Interesting to see lawmakers keeping up with millennial lingo, especially after the confusion surrounding “finstas”. The main aim of the proposed legislation is for users to better understand how platforms intend to use their data, instead of combing through lengthy terms-of-service documents filled with legal jargon.