The Drum Beat 806 - Countering Digital Disinformation, Respecting Freedom of Expression

• 1.Balancing Act: Countering Digital Disinformation While Respecting Freedom of Expression
  by Kalina Bontcheva and Julie Posetti (Eds.) with Denis Teyssou, Trisha Meyer, Sam Gregory, Clara Hanot, and Diana MaynardThe study presents a framework for capturing the complete disinformation lifecycle - from instigation and creation, to the means of propagation, to real-life impact. The findings are organised into a typology of 11 different categories of responses to disinformation - many captured in the selections below. Each category of response is assessed in terms of its intersections with the universal human right of freedom of expression, with a particular focus on press freedom and access to information. Case studies of responses to COVID-19 disinformation are presented within each category. The study calls for multistakeholder consultation and cooperation in the fight against disinformation and recognises that a multifaceted approach is needed.
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• 2.Assessment Framework for Responses to Disinformation
  The report features a 23-step assessment tool that is designed to help UNESCO Member States formulate responses to counter disinformation while respecting freedom of expression, access to information, and privacy rights. The tool could be applied to proposed legislative, regulatory, and policy measures around disinformation in order to assess, in a step-by-step fashion, their appropriateness in reference to international human rights laws and norms.
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• 3.Identification Responses to Disinformation
  Carried out by news organisations, internet communications companies, academia, civil society organisations, and independent fact-checking organisations, identification responses include spotting what content is false and misleading via verification and fact-checking. Investigative responses go beyond the question of whether a given message/content is false to provide insights into disinformation campaigns, including the originating actors, degree of spread, and affected communities. Recommendations for various actors are offered. For instance, all stakeholders could recognise the need to invest in critical, independent investigative journalism as a defensive measure against disinformation, particularly in light of COVID-19. A challenge to note is that journalists conducting such investigations are vulnerable to attacks against them, such as online harassment.
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• 4.Electoral Responses to Disinformation
  There are multiple ongoing challenges surrounding election disinformation and voter targeting and manipulation. Electoral responses typically combine monitoring and fact-checking, legal, curatorial, technical, and other responses - highlighting the multi-dimensional approach required to combat election-related disinformation, with its specific potential to damage the institutions of democracy. One of the recommendations is directed toward the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development: "Encourage member companies to consider swift and decisive responses to political and electoral disinformation, as has happened in the field of COVID-19 related disinformation, with due regard to the difference between these two subject fields."
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• * Click here for the CI LA summary (in Spanish).
  
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• 5.Legislative and Regulatory Responses to Disinformation
  Legislative responses encompass regulatory interventions to tackle disinformation and range from media and electoral laws to cybersecurity and penal codes. Certain laws are difficult to enforce in practice. In some cases - in particular, where disinformation is defined broadly or where provisions are included in general penal codes - there is a risk of censorship. Thus, any legislation responding to disinformation crises, like the COVID-19 disinfodemic, should be necessary, proportionate, and time-limited.
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• * Click here for the CI LA summary (in Spanish).
  
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• 6.Educational and Empowerment Responses to Disinformation
  Educational responses aim at promoting citizens' media and information literacy (MIL), critical thinking, and verification in the context of online information consumption, as well as journalist training. Empowerment responses focus on practical aids that can empower citizens and journalists to avoid falling prey to online disinformation, such as tools and resources for assessing credibility of news sources. A concluding recommendation relevant to both educational and empowerment: "[E]nsure that a society's emphasis is upon solving the root causes of the disinformation problem, rather than simply building resilience to it as if this was a stand-alone solution."
• * Click here for a PDF of this summary in English.
  
• * Click here for the CI LA summary (in Spanish).
  
• * Click here for a PDF of this summary in Spanish.
  
  

• See also:
  The Drum Beat 798 - Information as a Public Good: World Press Freedom Day
  The Drum Beat 794 - Media, (Mis)Information, and Rights through the Lens of COVID-19
  

• 7.Fighting Disinfodemic in Central Africa: Fact-checkers Experience Against Covid-19 Fake News
  by Fabíola Ortiz dos SantosThe production of fake news in Africa should be understood within the contours of media repression, digital literacy (or lack of it), resource-constrained newsrooms, and the use of popular channels of communication. In such a context, fact-checking has become a prominent tool. This chapter discusses two online fact-checking initiatives - Talato in the Central African Republic and Congo Check in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - that seek to combine journalistic skills, creativity, and innovation when communicating risk and acting against the COVID-19 disinfodemic. [Jan 2021]
   
• 8.Initiative for Media Freedom (IMF)
  IMF is a 5-year programme implemented in the Philippines by Internews and partners to support an independent and free press that is able to counter disinformation, promote political inclusion, and enhance democratic governance. Project partners are working to implement activities such as: building the fact-checking capacity of media, teachers, students, and civil society members; working with so-called social media "influencers" and content creators; developing a disinformation reporting platform and a malign actor tracking platform; coordinating with Facebook to encourage the removal of toxic operators; and conducting media literacy and disinformation awareness campaigns.
   
• 9.COVID-19 Response in Africa: Together for Reliable Information
  Launched in August 2020 by a consortium of organisations including UNESCO, this project seeks to help media outlets in sub-Saharan Africa survive the impact of the pandemic in an effort to ensure they can fulfil their role of providing independent and reliable lifesaving information to their audiences. The project offers financial support to media organisations across 17 sub-Saharan countries, provides training and materials, works to monitor press freedom violations, and supports local groups' lobbing and advocacy efforts.
   

• 10.Disinfodemic: Deciphering COVID-19 Disinformation
  by Julie Posetti and Kalina BontchevaThe first of 2 policy briefs from UNESCO, this paper examines 4 dominant formats of COVID-19 disinformation, outlines 9 main themes of the disinfodemic, and identifies 10 categories of response being mobilised - often with freedom of expression implications - around the world. [Apr 2020]
   
• 11.Letting the Sun Shine in: Transparency and Accountability in the Digital Age
  by Andrew PuddephattThis report discusses how greater transparency in the operations of internet companies could strengthen freedom of expression and other issues central to UNESCO's work. It outlines existing mechanisms and initiatives and sets out a preliminary selection of illustrative high-level principles that could serve as a basis for future discussions towards a framework for transparency to guide companies, policymakers, and regulators. [May 2021]
   
• 12.Advancing Youth-Centred Digital Ecosystems in Africa in a Post-Covid-19 World
  by Melanie Pinet, Phionah Sanyu, and Ariana YounThis Overseas Development Institute publication gleans findings from a 2-day online global consultation exploring young Africans' use of digital technologies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. One topic was youth technology use in the (mis- and dis-) information age. For youth to be equipped with the appropriate digital citizenship skills, policies facilitating youth digital engagement must be tailored to young people's own local contexts and reflect their lived experiences and aspirations. [Mar 2021]
   

• 13.Disinformation Primer
  by Joshua Machleder, Shannon Maguire, Susan Abbott, Renée Hendley, and Luis CamachoThe combination of traditional analog media and new digital technologies allows information to spread faster and more broadly than ever before. From the Center for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance at the United States Agency for International Development, this primer covers the basics of disinformation, how and why it is spread, and how programming can help reduce its damaging impact. [Feb 2021]
   
• 14.COVID-19: The Role of Judicial Operators in the Protection and Promotion of the Right to Freedom of Expression - Guidelines
  by Joan BarataFrom UNESCO, these guidelines are designed to provide support for judges and members of the judiciary for the protection and promotion of the right to freedom of expression during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, they seek to ensure the application of international and regional human rights standards of freedom of expression and privacy when ruling on cases involving States' responses to the COVID-19 outbreak that have an impact on freedom of expression, press freedom, access to information, privacy, and safety of journalists. [Sep 2020]
   
• 15.Countering Online Misinformation Resource Pack
  by Viviane BiancoProduced by the United Nations Children's Fund Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in the context of the COVID-19 infodemic, this resource pack provides access to various types of resources (tools, reports, toolkits, journal articles, etc.) that can support the development of tactics and plans to counter misinformation and to boost vaccine confidence in the digital space. [Aug 2020]
   
• 16.Media and Information Literate Citizens: Think Critically, Click Wisely!
  by Alton Grizzle, Carolyn Wilson, and Dorothy Gordon (Eds).This UNESCO curriculum is designed to provide education systems in developed and developing countries with a framework to strengthen MIL training. One of the 14 modules focuses on how MIL competencies and tools can be brought to bear on seeking and defending truth, preventing the spread of false information, and creating an inclusive, participatory, and open society. [2021]
   
• See also:
  * A Short Guide to the History of 'Fake News' and Disinformation - A Learning Module for Journalists and Journalism Educators
  * Journalism, 'Fake News' & Disinformation: Handbook for Journalism Education and Training
  

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