- Fortifying the Truth in the Age of Synthetic Media and Generative AI Written by Raquel Vazquez Llorente, Jacobo Castellanos, and Nkem Agunwa. In March 2023, WITNESS hosted in Nairobi, Kenya, over 20 journalists, fact-checkers, technologists, policy advocates, creators, human rights defenders and community activists from six African countries: Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and Zambia. In our two-day workshop, we discussed threats and opportunities that generative AI […]
- Building Human Rights Oriented Guidelines for Synthetic Media Takeaways/TLDR: Partnership on AI, in collaboration with WITNESS and other key allies, has published the Responsible Practices for Synthetic Media Framework, which offers guidelines for developing, creating, sharing, and publishing synthetic media ethically and responsibly. The Framework is directed towards those building technology and infrastructure for synthetic media, those creating synthetic media, and those distributing […]
- #KenyaDecides2022: How Disinformation Fanned Political Anxiety Kenya’s recently concluded election has been lauded as transparent, credible and peaceful. However, in the closely contested presidential race between former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and outgoing Deputy President William Ruto, the torrent of misinformation and disinformation ran rampant online throughout the electoral process. For millions of Kenyans social media has become the primary source […]
- Understanding the Dangers of Gendered Disinformation in African Elections Co-authored by Temiloluwa Alalade One of the targets of SDG 5 is to “ensure women’s full and effective participation, and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.” Over the years, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of women’s leadership and participation in politics and […]
- Fact from Fiction: Curbing Mis/disinformation in African Elections Co-authored by Temiloluwa Alalade During election season, voters are inundated with campaign materials intended to sway their votes. To engage with information meaningfully voters should have a basic understanding of digital and media literacy as well as critical thinking skills. Experts in Kenya warn that disinformation in elections may increase electoral violence globally. Election–related misinformation […]
- The rubber hits the road: From niche to potentially systematic use of provenance and authenticity infrastructure TLDR: The C2PA specifications have been published, making it possible for any tool or device to add features that track the source and history of digital media. If widely adopted, the specifications could lead towards a systematic use of provenance and authenticity infrastructure that is meant to tackle mis/disinformation and generate trust online. WITNESS has […]
- How Gendered Disinformation in Nigeria Precludes Justice for Survivors of SGBV This blogpost is part two of a two part series. Part one here. Co-authored by Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi The rise of technology, currently in its fourth revolution, has precipitated image-based abuse and online violence against women and girls. When misinformation and disinformation infiltrate the digital space, it spreads with horrifying speed in the absence of […]
- The Role of Disinformation in Perpetuating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Africa This blog post is part one of a two-part series. Co-authored by Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi Media responses to SGBV The proliferation of misinformation and disinformation has introduced new forms of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) such as online bullying, sexual harassment, image based sexual violence among others. This amplifies the problem and further impedes access […]
- WITNESS and the C2PA Harms and Misuse Assessment Process Lee el artículo en español aquí. Co-authored by Sam Gregory. TLDR: Building on WITNESS’ focus on developing an authenticity infrastructure that works globally and supports civic journalism and human rights uses and values, we have been part of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity specifications development effort. Right now we’re focused on identifying and […]
- 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 […]
