Uncovering The Truth In A War Of Disinformation
Introduction...
In light of reports concerned with the Israel-Hamas conflict, we would like to take a look at the scale of the issue as it relates to the crisis, but first, it is important to understand the very nature of truth before diving into the false claims, conspiracy theories, mis/disinformation, and hateful content that has surged across social media since 7th October.?
Objective Truth vs. The Perception of Truth...
The Oxford Dictionary defines truth as the quality or state of being based on fact, let's call this objective truth. But, there is of course the perception of truth, which is based on one's own view of the world around them, and how they process information they receive, which can be altered by various conditions.?
Example of Objective Truth…
An example of an objective truth would be one plus one equals two, or perhaps that China has the world’s largest population. These are true regardless of your opinions, beliefs or morality.?
The Perception of Truth on The Otherhand…
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote about the perception of truth (perspectivism) in his book The Genealogy of Morals, he also went on to describe how the deficiencies of various interpretations can be elevated by the careful invention and projection of certain ideals, principles and experiences.
The metaphysical world we inhabit is not built on objective truth, instead, we live in a society where perspectivism rules absolute. Every societal or political debate is charged with rhetoric that incites passion, each side defending its version of the truth vehemently, it is our needs that interpret the information and decide what to believe.?
And, once we have made up our mind we are generally locked into that belief seeking information that is consistent with our version of the truth to further validate our decision.?
Why Spread Mis/Disinformation..?
The speed at which the news is reported thanks to Twitter, Facebook, and other real-time content platforms means publications are terrified of missing a scoop, which can lead to mistakes such as inaccurate representations of the situation. BBC apologises for misleading coverage of pro-Palestine protesters in UK.
However, accidentally misreporting the situation is by no means the leading cause of the current online news fog we find ourselves in.?
According to Cyabra, a company based in Israel that analyses social media, one in five accounts taking part in conversations about the attacks committed by Hamas since 7th October are fake.
This means tens of thousands of social media accounts have been set up to spread false information with a motive to exacerbate tensions and promote their version of the truth, which inevitably leads to more polarization, outrage and hate.?
A recent news story regarding an explosion at a Gaza hospital has been the focus of a surge of activity as supporters of both sides in the battle between Israel and Hamas try to bolster their own side's narrative and cast doubts on the other's.?
Unfortunately, up until the point of writing this article, there has been no conclusive evidence as to who fired the rocket into the hospital killing hundreds of civilians. This means we are left to take sides based on who our media proponents tell us was the victim and who the perpetrator was.?
The spread of mis/disinformation (also referred to as propaganda) has been used for hundreds of years but rose to prominence during the Second World War to help shape people's beliefs and behaviours (or perceptions of the truth) at scale. In highly charged environments it can be an extremely effective way of coordinating efforts to manipulate and deceive.?
It is our individual responsibility to personally check the sources of our news before sharing it with our communities on social platforms, as the saying goes, fake news can make it around the world before the fact has even got its boots on.?
How is Mis/Disinformation Being Spread..?
The majority of content we (as a society consume) comes from online sources, and the biggest group of sources delivering the most content are social media platforms, which have the lowest levels of content moderation and oversight. The perfect places to spread mis/disinformation...
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News consumers reading coverage will be in doubt as to who to believe given the complex and highly emotional nature of the conflict, however, deeply emotive articles and/or posts are likely to solidify the individual’s stance against the other side and further enflame tensions around the world.?
Outside of social media mis/disinformation is being spread via a network of platforms and communities such as Reddit, Discord, and even in popular games such as Arma 3.
And at a time when platforms should be keeping a watchful eye on moderating content, TikTok's paid video promotion feature is helping to spread lies, and conspiracy theories.?
On Tuesday 10th October EU industry chief Thierry Breton issued letters to X and Meta CEOs Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, respectively, urging the social platform leaders to curb disinformation and harmful content around Hamas and Israel-Hamas in compliance with EU laws.?
Types of Mis/Disinformation…
Breakdown
The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has also given birth to new forms of misinformation and disinformation. We call this Synthetic Media to indicate the artificial production, manipulation and modification of data and multimedia by automated means, especially AI algorithms, to mislead or change original meaning.
We have seen nearly all forms of mis/disinformation being used to promote narratives associated with the Israel-Hamas conflict, and I am sure there are lots more to come as it continues.?
What Is Being Done To Stem The Flow...
Social media platforms can and will only do so much, but fact-checking organisations have been set up to analyse online content, social media accounts and domains.?
These include BBC Verify, Newsguard, Amazon Rekognition, AP Fact Check, Global Disinformation Index, Factmata and a few others... But, the majority of these use manual labour to scour thousands of articles and posts a day, which is just not scalable in the age of AI.?
This is exactly the reason why we launched Mitify+ which uses proprietary machine learning and AI to automatically detect the likelihood of a piece of content or a post being mis/disinformation.?
So, Finally, What Is At Stake…
When it comes to societal and political narratives the truth is a fluid concept and individuals will choose to believe what they want based on a carefully crafted version of reality.?
The fear is that the power of online communities, personalised 'for you' feeds, and content recommendation engines, not to mention the content promotion/targeting capabilities baked into their user interface have all aided towards the upending of the metaphysical world in which we inhabit, and more importantly, how we interpret the truth.?
According to a 2022 survey by research firm Ipsos, 86% of news consumers globally admit to being duped by fake news.?
If we don’t get to grips with mis/disinformation we could end up living in a completely fabricated reality that is born out of the perceived truths of those who had the capabilities to sway the narrative in their favour.?