Anti-vaccine and extremist groups flocked to social media
Hi there. First personal news! After a long time, I am here! (Finally) Let me tell you for those who are wondering, I had facial nerve paralysis for 2 weeks. So I had to take a break from the bulletin. Half of my face was not working. It was really a terrible experience. I was drinking my drinks with a pipette for example. 😄 One of my eyes was not closing. What two weeks! Now I think I’m cured now. Mimics are back. 😜
💅 What’s on?
First good news! You all remember I mentioned in my 7th bulletin, Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their efforts to protect freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace. In that bulletin, I tried to the importance of these awards for journalism.
So what do they say in Oslo? Maria Ressa decried the “toxic sludge” of hate and violence in our information ecosystem, and specifically called out U.S. tech companies for prioritizing profit. Dmitry Muratov paid tribute to colleagues who have lost their lives in the course of their reporting: “I want journalists to die old.”
According to Jerri Eddings, these awards, underscore the importance of journalism in combating authoritarianism and other destructive
Another good point to me Baybars Örsek and Gülin Cavuş were at Nobel Ceremony! I am proud because my citizens and friends are there. Baybars is still the Director of International Fact-Checking Network. Gülin is the founder of Teyit. For years, they have done a great job in combating misinformation and fact-checking. I think they represent Turkey in a wonderful way. Thanks guys!
👀 Who Owns the social media?
In my trainings on digital communication, I usually talk about social media ownership so that the big picture can be understood. This type of data is significant, especially in terms of which platforms journalists can focus on and reach their audiences. And that makes the world we live in more clear. the graphic below summarizes everything 👇
This Visual Capitalist‘s graphic highlights the biggest social networks across the globe, measured by their monthly active users. You may have noticed the inevitable rise and monopoly of Meta (formerly Facebook). If you want more details about this graphic, let check-in 👇
Facebook removed disinformation network
While we are talking about Meta, there is interesting news. Meta released “Meta’s Adversarial Threat Report” last week. In this report, there is on brigading, mass reporting, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
What happened? Meta removed more than 500 accounts after receiving reports of a fake Swiss biologist. The accounts had promoted the claims of a fake Swiss biologist called “Wilson Edwards”, who alleged the US was meddling in efforts to find the origins of Covid-19. Edwards’ comments had been widely carried by Chinese state media outlets. However, the Swiss embassy said that it was unlikely this person existed. The disinformation campaign was “largely unsuccessful,” and targeted English-speaking audiences in the United States and Britain and Chinese-speaking audiences in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Tibet. You should read Guardian’s article about it.
Conspiracy theorists and extremist groups flocked to Twitter Space
Earlier this year, Twitter employees asked how the company planned to prevent Spaces from becoming a platform for hate speech, bullying, and calls to violence. Turns out there was no plan. According to WP, Racists, anti-vaccine activists, and Taliban supporters have flocked to Twitter’s new audio service after executives ignored.
How does the Taliban use Twitter effectively? To the curious, I published a newsletter about it. Let me add this news. A comprehensive analysis of anti-vaccine activity on Twitter.
That’s it today.
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Safak.
