- Prioritize Non-Technological Methods for Combating Misinformation and Disinformation Detecting mis/disinfo Technology platforms are facing their biggest hurdle yet as they race to beat the fast-evolving forms of misinformation and disinformation perpetuated online. More pressing is the sophisticated technology deployed by mis/disinformation actors that make it increasingly difficult to detect and counter. To address this, tech platforms have introduced a number of technological solutions […]
- How Biases Fuel Misinformation and Disinformation Misinformation and disinformation are arguably as old as humanity. The popular myth that bats are blind is scientifically inaccurate, and thus a misinformation. Research has proven that bats are anything but blind. They see in black and white and at night they have the potential to see even better than humans. The introduction of information […]
- فهم “المصدر” في التحقيقات مفتوحة المصدر نشرت لأول مرة في Open Global Rights بالإنجليزية، والإسبانية، والعربية في ٢١ يناير ٢٠٢١ كتبت : Libby McAvoy عندما يظهر مقطع فيديو به درجة صادمة من العنف وينتشر على نطاق واسع على الإنترنت، مثل مقاطع فيديو قوات الأمن في العراق وهي تطلق “عبوات غاز مسيل للدموع تصيب رؤوس” المتظاهرين، فإن المحققين مفتوحي المصدر يمشطون المقطع باستخدام تقنيات مثل بحوث السوشيال ميديا […]
- Centering the “source” in open source investigation Author: Libby McAvoy This article first appeared on Open Global Rights in English, Spanish, and Arabic on January 21, 2021. When a viral video of shocking violence crops up online—such as videos of security forces in Iraq firing “head-splitting tear gas grenades” at protestors—open source investigators comb through the footage with techniques like sophisticated social media research and geolocation to verify […]
- COVID-19 Misinformation and Disinformation Responses: Sorting the Good from the Bad —May 2020: Sam Gregory, Dia Kayyali, Corin Faife. Last updated: 5/29 In this blog post we give an overview of some of the key trends in platform response to misinformation, disinformation and harmful speech during COVID-19, and develop a set of criteria through which the wide range of possible reactions can be assessed, using a framework […]
- Twitter Released A Draft Policy on Synthetic Media. Here’s What Stood Out to the Activists We Consulted. — January 28, 2020 Earlier this month, Facebook released its policy on manipulated media. As a civil society organization with expert knowledge on the subject, WITNESS was asked to give input on the policy while it was under development, and it’s worth recognizing the positives of Facebook’s pro-active approach in developing a response to this […]
- The Pros and Cons of Facebook’s New Deepfakes Policy Yesterday Facebook released its policy on enforcing against manipulated media, detailing how the company would respond to deepfakes, and to a lesser extent shallowfakes. On Wednesday 8 January 2020 the US Congress will hold another hearing on digital manipulation, following on from the first congressional hearing on deepfakes in June 2019. Over the past two years WITNESS has […]
- Harm Reduction for WhatsApp Thanks to WITNESS’ Mozilla Fellow Gabriela Ivens for contributing the section on cloud backups and to all WITNESS partners and human rights defenders who have shared experiences of using WhatsApp that informed this article As we noted in our other WhatsApp focused blog post today, “Whats Up, WhatsApp?”, activists and journalists all over the world […]
- New United Nations Report calls on companies to take a “A Human Rights Approach to Platform Content Regulation” Our Tech+Advocacy Program Manager Dia Kayyali breaks down the Special Rapporteur's newest report to the UN Human Rights Council, a report calling for a "human rights approach to platform content moderation."
- National Day of Action for Trans Women of Color We are committed to exposing the impact and imminent dangers posed to transgender and gender nonconforming communities by prevailing cultural biases, institutional discrimination, religious bigotry, and, especially, the Trump administration’s hateful rhetoric and policies.
- Mobil-Eyes Us: Using Live Video and the Power of Networks for Smart Activism How can we use the power of live video to connect people to the causes they care about, & provide immediate & meaningful ways to act by using their skills?
- See, Hear… Act?: Co-Present Storytelling and Action How can emerging tech tools like live-streaming or task routing apps be used to connect communities of support with activists on the ground in real time?
- What WITNESS Learned in 3 Years Curating Human Rights Videos on YouTube The policies, practices, and technology that allow human rights videos by citizens to expose abuse are constantly evolving and our strategies must keep up.
- Film the Police? Not in Spain. Spain's Ley Mordaza - or "Gag Law" went into effect July 1st 2015 severely limiting the rights of citizens to openly protest and to film police officers.
- Bystander Videos of Police Misconduct in the U.S. Oscar Grant. Michael Brown. Eric Garner. Walter Scott. The names of unarmed black men killed by police across the United States have etched their way into the public memory, becoming symbols of unjust policing. As bystander footage documenting those killings and other cases of police abuse flood Twitter and replay on cable news, it’s hard […]
