- Strengthening Collective Capacity to Respond to the War on Gaza Read WITNESS’ Statement. This post is also available in Arabic. A communications blackout plunged millions of Gazans, including civilians, journalists, paramedic teams and aid agencies, in an information vacuum from October 27 to midday October 29 when connectivity was partially restored. Today, we stand in a moment fraught with the gravest of risks for further […]
- #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 […]
- 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 […]
- 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 […]
- Pre-Empting a Crisis: Deepfake Detection Skills + Global Access to Media Forensics Tools In a recent WIRED Op-ed I share the story of a recent deepfake panic in Myanmar. Spoiler: It probably wasn’t a deepfake… but it has important implications for how we think about access to deepfake detection technology and what skills, capacities and escalation options are needed. You can read more about the story here. “RECENTLY […]
- How Can U.S. Activists Confront Deepfakes and Disinformation? –December 2020 In the US, the 2020 presidential campaign has been called the “misinformation election.” But however significant the results may be, the problem of misinformation is much larger and more persistent than a single event. Recently WITNESS hosted a workshop on deepfakes and visual misinformation for activists and researchers based in the US, where […]
- Introducing { Latent Space } – a technology newsletter from WITNESS —August 2020 Technology touches all of our lives, so it touches all of the work we do at WITNESS. But there are some areas of technology more than others that are focal points for our Emerging Threats and Opportunities and Tech + Advocacy programs. We’re in the vanguard of conversations on artificial intelligence and synthetic […]
- Coronavirus and human rights: Preparing WITNESS’s response UPDATE: Our COVID-19 landing page is here (and Portuguese, Spanish) COVID-19 (Coronavirus) is creating rapid and dangerous human rights implications globally, directly impacting people’s lives, livelihoods, security, health, ability to work and freedom of movement and assembly, as well as leading to implications for digital rights and increasing online surveillance. The immediate implications of coronavirus – […]
- Deepfakes and Synthetic Media: Updated Survey of Solutions against Malicious Usages Last updated: June 2019 (NOTE: please send feedback on areas/examples we are missing to sam [at} witness.org: this is not a comprehensive list!) This is a survey of solutions around the emerging and potential malicious uses of so-called “deepfakes” and other forms of AI-generated “synthetic media” and how we push back to defend evidence, the truth […]
- Deepfakes and Synthetic Media: Survey of Solutions against Malicious Usages For updated information on our work in this area please visit wit.to/Synthetic-Media-Deepfakes. This includes an updated version of this survey. This is the second in a series of blogs on a new area of focus at WITNESS around the emerging and potential malicious uses of so-called “deepfakes” and other forms of AI-generated “synthetic media” and […]
- Deepfakes and Synthetic Media: What should we fear? What can we do? For updated information on WITNESS work in this area please visit wit.to/Synthetic-Media-Deepfakes This is the first in a series of blogs on a new area of focus at WITNESS around the emerging and potential malicious uses of so-called “deepfakes” and other forms of AI-generated “synthetic media” and how we push back to defend evidence, the truth […]