Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

foundation.mozilla.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 110 posts

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#41

Post by orangepurple »

uniqueuid wrote: post #15

Having read the report, I think this is an interesting but rather weak analysis. Detection of inauthentic behavior is very hard and fraught with false positives, so it's really important to be very transparent in the methods. That said, the numbers are not too small, they do have some interviews with participants and Twitter seems to have removed some accounts - all these lend the report some credibility.

Twitter removes accounts at the whim of specious evidence. The removal does not make the evidence more credible.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#43

Post by volta83 »

modo_mario wrote: post #27
uniqueuid wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tongue in cheek but: I really like their activist products such as container tabs, privacy enhancing technologies and reduced tracking (compared to Chrome, Safari etc).

I think he might be talking about other kinds of activism They also do things like give a quarter million to black artists to make art about the effects of AI on systems of oppression. Half a million to broadband towers in the american south. Money for wetland restoration. This may all seem neat and fine to do if they have that kind of money to hand out but these things come around the same time of having had a large…

Right.

I sponsor Rust through patreon.

I asked many times how can I donate money to mozilla with the guarantee that the money is used for Rust / servo ?

The answer was that this was not possible, so I never could donate through any official channel.

TBH, mozilla does too much random stuff for it to be attractive as a donor.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#44

Post by mc32 »

uniqueuid wrote: post #21
recursivedoubts wrote: post #17

> "New research by two Mozilla Fellows reveals how malicious, coordinated, and inauthentic attacks on Twitter are undermining Kenyan civil society" i am glad that we here in the west are not subject to this sort of social media engineering and can participate in open and thoughtful debate on topics no matter how our elites feel about them

I honestly can't tell if you are cynical. Because this is exactly what is the case! We are here and can participate in these discussions, more than ever before in history. There are limits to free discussions (i.e. if you threaten or plot to kill somebody), but these limits have never been less in any country in any time. So - let's not be overly pessimistic?

Deplatforming unpopular voices. And there is corruption everywhere as exemplified by the Cuomo shenanigans and now sime activists are quitting because their superiors were using them as puppets to enhance their agendas.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#45

Post by jwond »

uniqueuid wrote: post #11
ceilingcorner wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

accountability, transparency and formal ethics codices Are you seeing much of this lately? Lately as in the last 40 years? I certainly am not.

Disclaimer: I study this stuff as a scientist. Yes accountability especially in the US is lacking. But there is some, there are formal ethical codices (i.e. see NPR's https://www.npr.org/ethics ), there is proper journalism training (see e.g. the Annenberg schools). If you compare the US media to other nations, and especially if you look at them historically, they have been pretty good at this. I'd argue that your st…

> But there is some, there are formal ethical codices (i.e. see NPR's https://www.npr.org/ethics), there is proper journalism training (see e.g. the Annenberg schools).

Publishing a code of ethics means absolutely nothing if it is not followed.

For example, NPR’s code of ethics says “We know that truth is not possible without the active pursuit of a diversity of voices, especially those most at risk of being left out.” and “In all our stories, especially matters of controversy, we strive to consider the strongest arguments we can find on all sides, seeking to deliver both nuance and clarity.”

but just recently they had a segment where they spent an hour trashing free speech without a single person to argue in favor of free speech. So much for “diversity of voices.”

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/npr-trashes-free-speech-a-brie...

> I'd argue that your standards are probably too high. Accountability is a shitshow and virtually nonexistent across the globe. It's a darn lucky situation if you even have some.

I’d argue your standards are too low. Just because things are worse elsewhere doesn’t mean we should be content that things aren’t quite as bad here.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#46

Post by uniqueuid »

orangepurple wrote: post #41
uniqueuid wrote: post #15

Having read the report, I think this is an interesting but rather weak analysis. Detection of inauthentic behavior is very hard and fraught with false positives, so it's really important to be very transparent in the methods. That said, the numbers are not too small, they do have some interviews with participants and Twitter seems to have removed some accounts - all these lend the report some credibility.

Twitter removes accounts at the whim of specious evidence. The removal does not make the evidence more credible.

Agreed. But if they (at some point) include it in an official report on inauthentic behavior, then that's added credibility.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#47

Post by [deleted] »

mc32 wrote: post #39
uniqueuid wrote: post #15

Having read the report, I think this is an interesting but rather weak analysis. Detection of inauthentic behavior is very hard and fraught with false positives, so it's really important to be very transparent in the methods. That said, the numbers are not too small, they do have some interviews with participants and Twitter seems to have removed some accounts - all these lend the report some credibility.

Mozilla and Twitter are US concerns. What is it their business how politics are conducted in other countries? What’s the difference between Mozilla and United Fruit when it comes to political interference? They both were are agitating for their PoV and not concerned with local mores. They both have foreign agendas. One could argue United fruit advanced agriculture and provided jobs whereas Mozilla gets involved but p…

[deleted]

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#48

Post by pueblito »

uniqueuid wrote: post #11
ceilingcorner wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

accountability, transparency and formal ethics codices Are you seeing much of this lately? Lately as in the last 40 years? I certainly am not.

Disclaimer: I study this stuff as a scientist. Yes accountability especially in the US is lacking. But there is some, there are formal ethical codices (i.e. see NPR's https://www.npr.org/ethics ), there is proper journalism training (see e.g. the Annenberg schools). If you compare the US media to other nations, and especially if you look at them historically, they have been pretty good at this. I'd argue that your st…

You found it ok to go around the sites rules (as enforced by the reply limit) by editing to reply. You’re breaking the rules to influence others to your opinions, and you study people breaking the rules to influence others to their opinions.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#49

Post by uniqueuid »

denton-scratch wrote: post #35
uniqueuid wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So hopefully there's a space in-between: is it still legitimate (or legal) for me as an individual to influence people, or does that count as disinformation? Is it because I don't possess a codex? Of course, the laws and norms governing individuals are different from the laws and norms governing institutions, companies, parties etc. > "Society" was actually never asked. In liberal democracies, you don't have to ask…

In the "marketplace of opinions", everyone is automatically accountable. So accountability should be deleted from your list of features that distinguish disinformation.

Only if they are communicating with some identifier!

If someone poses as other people (which these campaigns do), accountability becomes impossible because normal users cannot tell who said what.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#50

Post by bunnernana »

Am reading through the comments and I have to say westerners really think all news is about them. People who don't understand the context of a story arguing out the ethics of a story they have no idea about. PS: I am a Kenyan. That being said, any Kenyan here who uses Twitter regularly will agree with the article. Go to Twitter right now and you will see the disinformation in action. Trend number 1 (Nyonga) Trend number 3 (Kenya under Raila) are all political trends that are being promoted by "fake accounts" pushing the hashtags. Everyday new hashtags come up peddling the same misinformation against political rivals. This has been happening almost EVERYDAY for the last several months and it will only get worse as we near elections which is exactly one year away.
Post reply on HN