- 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 […]
- The wrongfulness of Nigeria’s ban on Twitter Published on 11 June 2021 On June 4th when I saw the announcement on Twitter that the Nigerian government was placing a ban on Twitter’s operations in the country due to what they vaguely described as “activities capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence” it was immediately clear that this was Nigeria’s retaliation against Twitter for […]
- The Adobe Content Authenticity Initiative approach to authenticity infrastructure against media manipulation Launch of the Content Authenticity Initiative White Paper Today the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) spearheaded by Adobe, Twitter and the New York Times publishes its White Paper. WITNESS is a co-author on the paper and has been part of the Working Group developing the standards alongside other groups including TruePic, Microsoft, the BBC, CBC and […]
- 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 […]
- Tracing trust: Why we must build authenticity infrastructure that works for all May 2020 TLDR: Coronavirus has dramatically increased the stakes for how we deal with issues of manipulated, fake and deceptive video and audio online, with governments, companies and publics responding to the need to discern truth from falsehood. One solution to misinformation and disinformation is to better track what is authentic, what is manipulated and […]
- What’s needed in deepfakes detection? April 2020 Misinformation and disinformation are a critical problem for societies worldwide. In response, WITNESS’s work addressing new forms of media manipulation such as deepfakes and synthetic media is focused on preparing better, and advancina a more global, human rights-lead approach to these emerging threats. Learning from previous and current mis/disinformation challenges, where critical impacted […]
- As content moderators go home, content could go down Updated with further information from Facebook that was published 19 March 2020 at 19:22 Pacific Time, after this post was already published. Most of us are spending a lot of time on social media right now. Social media has been instrumental in spreading misinformation about COVID-19, but it has also provided lifelines for people across […]
- 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 […]
- Alex Jones, Myanmar, and free expression online Imagine ending up in jail with no understanding of what the charges against you are, no idea what legal process you will be facing, and no idea what happens if you appeal your conviction- or even how to appeal. It sounds like a Kafka novel, but that’s how social media platforms operate today. It has […]
- WITNESS Tech Digest: Transparency Reports on Government Interference Internet companies are producing more transparency reports about governments' demands on the companies to hand over users' data and take down their content.
- What We’re Reading: July 25 Edition Every week we publish a list of our favorite articles on human rights, video, and advocacy. This week features the promotion of LGBT rights in India, the use of social media to uncover the mystery behind the downed Malaysia Flight MH17 and much more.
- #AIDS2014 Live Twitter Recap This week will be following our Senior Program Manager Bukeni Waruzi via our #AIDS2014 Live Twitter Recap blog post. Stay tuned for live updates.
- Insights on the Use of Memes for Social Justice Campaigns A guest post by The Civic Beat's Ben Valentine about social change memes in global contexts.
- 20 Citizen Journalists We Follow Who Covered Human Rights in 2013 On Human Rights Day, we've compiled a global list of citizen journalists we follow who cover human rights and share video. Please share the list and add to it!
- The Vine Mobile App: The Social Media Fanatic’s Favorite New Tool Vine is a new application for mobile devices with some powerful features for citizen journalists.
