The information war, Online Safety Bill and more
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!
This month, we’ve added a new section to cover the misinformation and other issues related to the invasion of Ukraine. We’ll keep running it as long as it’s necessary and relevant.
We’ve also got an interview with the latest person to join the Checkstep team. Yu-Lan Scholliers was most recently at Meta/Facebook where she was a Trust and Safety Specialist. You can learn more about her interests and background in the extract below, but be sure to check out the full interview in our Medium publication.
Besides all that, we still have the normal round-up of all things related to content moderation, platform policies, and freedom of expression.
Checkstep News
📣 Following a London event, on Safer Internet Day, we hosted our second Trust and Safety Networking gathering in San Francisco. We hope to build an international network of Trust and Safety experts by regularly organizing such events. So keep an eye out for more information, and let us know if you’re interested in participating.
Expert’s Corner with Yu-Lan Scholliers
What drew you to the Trust & Safety / Online Safety space?
I would say that the space picked me! A couple of years ago, I wanted to change teams within Meta but had no idea what I wanted to do. The manager of the Trust & Safety team (internally it’s called Community Integrity) presented me with a couple options and when I saw counter-terrorism on the list I immediately knew that’s what I wanted to work on. Later on, I also worked on other areas such as Adult Sexual Exploitation and Suicide & Self-Injury Prevention.
What do you think are the key indicators of a good trust and safety system?
In general, it’s always a good sign if a platform has a strong cross-functional group of people working on the problem, i.e. policy experts, engineering, product and operations. On a more granular level, the system is designed to both prevent harm from happening and reduce any harm that does occur in a timely and efficient manner, with the ultimate indicator measuring the prevalence of a given harm on a platform, i.e. a platform would want to be able to measure how much harm there is and reduce it over time. However, measuring prevalence can be extremely difficult and a range of other indicators exist that might serve as proxies.
Do you think women are well-represented in tech? Do you think diversity and the tech industry go hand-in-hand?
No — and neither are other diversity groups.I do think the tech industry has the means and capabilities to address this, i.e. by providing access to education and information. Two examples of these efforts I really like are The Female Lead and the Your Life Campaign — both driven by Edwina Dunn. I do believe we need to focus on all-encompassing diversity, focusing on more than just gender, by supporting and inspiring adolescents.
For Yu-Lan’s full answers and answers to lots more questions, be sure to read the full article on Medium.
The Information War
👧 The young Ukrainians battling pro-Russian trolls (BBC News)
From fake accounts calling the war a hoax to trolls chasing young women, the war didn’t just have real life consequences but also led to a state of panic, with all sorts of misinformation floating around, to the extent that some members of the public refused to believe there was a war going on. Whether it was false propaganda via TikTok videos or stories narrated by the Russian media, the public has been exposed to very different versions of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Add to that the rumors spread via messaging apps like Telegram, the entire situation calls for a serious crackdown of the false news floating around.
🔒 Twitter launches privacy-protected site on dark web to bypass Russia's block (The Guardian)
Twitter is offering an “onion” service to help keep Russians better informed of the news outside the state as Russia continues to control the flow of information to its people.
🤷 Sanctioned rebels are using Facebook to recruit fighters and spread pro-Russia propaganda, whistleblower complaint claims (The Washington Post)
You’d think Facebook had amended its ways, but oh well, one can hope. A fresh pair of whistleblowers have filed complaints to the Justice and Treasury departments about the platform allowing Aleksandr Zaldostanov, a “sanctioned rebel”, to remain active on the platform.
🗣️ ⌛ The Spectacular Collapse of Putin's Disinformation Machinery (Wired)
Without most of us even realizing it, over decades Putin managed to build up a sophisticated network to disseminate disinformation and influence. The Kremlin managed to infiltrate and influence western governments with elected officials often acting as proxy Russian operatives. The result of that monumental effort all but evaporated the instant Russian soldiers stepped into Ukrainian territory.
🤥 In the Ukraine Conflict, Fake Fact-Checks Are Being Used to Spread Disinformation (ProPublica)
In a horrible twist, fake fact checks are themselves being used to spread misinformation. We should have seen this coming, of course. More than a dozen ‘fact-checking’ videos have been identified that purport to debunk completely fabricated fakes.
Moderating the Marketplace of Ideas
🧑🎓 First Amendment Scholars Want to See the Media Lose These Cases (The New York Times)
Misinformation has become so pervasive and damaging that legal scholars who normally defend free speech against all challenges are taking up the opposite side. Because outlets like Project Veritas, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, and One America News have been so active promoting false claims, many free speech defenders believe they should lose the defamation suits being brought against them.
🤨 Two years of information chaos (Axios)
Everyday people have become much more aware of disinformation and they’re talking about it bringing more pressure on social media sites to address harmful false content.
💣 Facebook allows war posts urging violence against Russian invaders (Reuters)
Facebook is temporarily changing its hate speech policy. Users in certain countries are now free to hate on Russian soldiers even wishing them dead as long as the language doesn’t get too specific in the particulars.
🤔 If someone shares your politics, you're less likely to block them when they post misinformation (Nieman Journalism Lab)
Probably not surprising but we have a higher tolerance for misinformation when it fits our own worldview.
🪧 Former TikTok moderators sue over emotional toll of 'extremely disturbing' videos (NPR)
We all know content moderators are the front-line workers in the fight against toxic content, and that they face unimaginably horrible content day after day. TikTok may have forgotten that fact, so they’re facing a lawsuit brought by two former moderators who say the platform was negligent and failed to protect them in an unsafe work environment.
Remedying COVID-19 and Vaccine Misinformation
🌿 💰 DOJ, FTC, FDA sue man who claims $60 herbal tea cures COVID (Ars Technica)
After repeated warnings, a New York man is being sued by federal agencies for regularly claiming on social media that his $60 herbal tea will prevent and cure COVID. The lawsuit mentions counterfeit clinical studies and the fact that he preyed on vulnerable patients.
🦠 💀 False narratives about Covid left us with millions of deaths – will we challenge them now? (The Guardian)
There’s reality, but the narrative around the pandemic determines how we and governments respond. False narratives have already contributed to the millions of lives lost to COVID-19 and will likely continue to negatively impact current and future outbreaks. A truthful assessment of the situation means planning now for the next potentially worse pandemic.
Regulatory News and Updates
🇬🇧 Internet scams to be included in UK online safety bill (The Guardian)
Martin Lewis, founder of Money Saving Expert, will get his wish with a new change to the coming U.K. Online Safety Bill. Lewis, whose name and image are often used fraudulently by scammers, has long advocated for strong measures against online fraud and scams.
🇦🇺 🇺🇸 Australia pressured Google and Facebook to pay for journalism. Is America next? (Columbia Journalism Review)
Since Google and Facebook’s business models depend on their leeching off traditional media companies, a new law in Australia is making them pay. With the apparent success of the law (media companies are hiring more journalists e.g.), other countries are looking into similar legislation putting Big Tech on the defensive.
Singapore is introducing new laws in order to raise the standards of online safety, to keep up with the upcoming regulations in the UK, European Union, Australia and Germany, with a core focus on child safety.