Fake News

• Fake News and misinformation is considered a real threat to democracy in the 21st century.
• Facing threats of foreign disinformation campaigns ahead of 2020's presidential election, fake news about the Oregon wildfires, and false health claims during an ongoing pandemic, effective content moderation is more important than ever.
• With reports of how social media algorithms expedite the spread of false information, the threat of a fake-news crisis triggered by deepfake technology has become a serious concern, especially as the US prepares for the 2020 presidential elections.
• From compromised voting machines to fake news spread across the Internet and social media, US voters will call into question the reliability of the voting process, especially if the results of the 2020 presidential election once again fail to align with projections.
• To ensure that fake news is countered and citizens have the information they need to hold institutions to account and restore trust in them, cities will need to invest in high-quality, independent, public interest news over the next decade.
• 2020 will be the year that governments worldwide will attempt to legislate the role that social media companies play in the dissemination of fake news.
• With the spread of the internet in India in the last few years and the consequent easy access to social media and messaging apps, there's concern in some quarters that the outcome of the 2019 elections will be determined by an uncontrollable flood of propaganda and fake news.
• About two-thirds of respondents expect the risks of fake news and identity theft to increase in 2019, while three-fifths said the same about loss of privacy to companies and governments.
• According to Twitter's CEO, Jack Dorsey, the user decline could be attributed to a wide-scale removal of fake, inactive and offensive accounts in efforts to improve user experience crack down on fake news, abusive content and political influence.
• US policymakers are especially concerned about how deepfakes might be used to spread more convincing fake news and misinformation ahead of next year's presidential election.
• Online news outlets and users that spread fake news will face fines of up to 1.5 million rubles for repeat offenses.
• Fake news and false information is a bigger concern this year, with 71 per cent of Canadians worried it will be used as a weapon, up from 65 per cent last year.
• Trend Micro believes that this year, the improvements social media has made to fight fake news will not be enough to keep up with the deluge of cyberpropaganda.
• Facebook will start verifying the identities of people running popular pages on its social network.
• Driven by fears for the upcoming Parliament election next year, the EU legislature is pushing several initiatives to fight fake news.
• By 2020, 40% of governments will encourage bipartisan groups to isolate fake news and encourage metadata for news sources.
• Information warfare and "fake news" have played a prominent role in global politics over the last several years and could dominate the relationship between societies, governments, politicians, and militaries in the future operational environment.
• The European Union threatened further restraints unless companies prevent fake news and Cambridge Analytica-style manipulation of personal data before the next European elections in 2019.
• Information, misinformation and fake news in the information age - the 21st century threatens to wreak havoc on the social organisation of information and knowledge.
• Unilever is threatening to pull its advertising from digital platforms that it says have become a "swamp" of fake news, racism, sexism and extremism.
• The threat of fake news to the security of Taiwan cannot be ignored.
• Fake news will come from everywhere and hundreds of sock puppet Twitter and Facebook accounts will suddenly be "Iranian" and breathlessly report from the scene of their Langley offices.

Last updated: 17 January 2021