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Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

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Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#51

Post by uniqueuid »

pueblito wrote: post #48
uniqueuid wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Thanks for pointing out the irony!

This is actually a great example:

- I broke the rules (code as law), but was transparent about it

- You held me accountable

- Others can read our exchange and adjust their trust (in me in particular)

That's a good outcome, I guess!

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#52

Post by ceilingcorner »

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…

Absolutely no difference. Just imperialism recontextualized for a new century with new profits to be made.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#53

Post by didibus »

dexen wrote: post #5

Why is Mozilla, of all orgs, performing foreign activism and reporting on Twitter users in hopes of getting them banned? "We want to do good", sure, but that's two bits of a stretch here. Nothing in the article as posted indicates that the "disinformation influencers" were nefarious actors. For all the description given, it might have been grassroots citizens action, only labeled "disinformation" by officials or gove…

> Nothing in the article as posted indicates that the "disinformation influencers" were nefarious actors

People getting paid money to perform coordinated repost of content sent to them by anonymous sources?

Fake accounts used to amplify and retweet the messages?

What else are you looking for? It's like they told you someone stole money at gunpoint and you said you don't see anything indicative of theft.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#54

Post by mfer »

bunnernana wrote: post #50

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 num…

> Am reading through the comments and I have to say westerners really think all news is about them.

As a westerner, I've discovered that we forget that we are less than 20% of the global population. Bringing that up in conversation can surprise people.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#55

Post by jacquesm »

bunnernana wrote: post #50

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 num…

I've noticed that this is happening on any divisive subject, no matter what. Abortion, LGBTI rights, politics, sports, it doesn't matter there is always a bunch real people involved backed by an army of bots.

There are some people mapping this out manually, I'm surprised that the likes of Twitter don't take a harder stand against this because it likely is going to ruin the platform long term (if that hasn't already happened).

One example:

https://twitter.com/galactic_potato/status/14352650994770002...

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#56

Post by parabyl »

bunnernana wrote: post #50

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 num…

This is a huge issue in South Africa too. It's become blatant to the point you can often immediately tell if a trending hashtag is being pushed by bot efforts just by looking at the way it's phrased + a few of the top tweets circulating it.

> Everyday new hashtags come up peddling the same misinformation against political rivals.

Is how I've been feeling for the past couple of years at least.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#57

Post by didibus »

ceilingcorner wrote: post #3

Sorry but unless you provide actual links to so-called misinformation, I’m going to assume that this is either overexaggerated or labeling anything against Western values as disinformation. Especially when it is described as ”This industry’s main goal is to sway public opinion during elections and protests ” which is different than every other media organization how, exactly?

I think you're missing the point, as a Twitter user, do you expect other users to be paid money to post and retweet things that they were told to post and retweet by some patron? Do you expect to be baited by some fake account that is sold to the best bidder for amplification? And do you expect the recommendations and trending to be full of manipulated content that actually all come from a single source of coordinated promotion?

It doesn't really matter what the messages in those are, it could be wishing everyone a good day, it is still disinformation, because it is trying to masquerade itself as a popular opinion on Twitter, and as being a real representation of real people's personal opinion that they hold so strongly they are willing to be actively expressing it publicly on Twitter.

To me, this amounts to fraud, and Twitter has a huge problem with this stuff. It's similar in nature to fraud on Amazon with fake reviews, and with selling aftermarket goods and fake brands.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#58

Post by gorwell »

dexen wrote: post #5

Why is Mozilla, of all orgs, performing foreign activism and reporting on Twitter users in hopes of getting them banned? "We want to do good", sure, but that's two bits of a stretch here. Nothing in the article as posted indicates that the "disinformation influencers" were nefarious actors. For all the description given, it might have been grassroots citizens action, only labeled "disinformation" by officials or gove…

"It feels like a small group"

You're right, it's only about 5% of the population, but they occupy administrative roles inside organizations and reshape them according to their fundamentalist beliefs. They are convinced they are doing good and have moral authority. As such, they have no qualms about ostracizing or firing dissenters. People are terrified of that and go along with it for fear of retaliation, so it seems larger than it is.

Taking administrative roles with an intolerant belief structure and chilling effect on speech is how the Successor Ideology is so effective despite being small in number.

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#59

Post by SV_BubbleTime »

mfer wrote: post #54
bunnernana wrote: post #50

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 num…

> Am reading through the comments and I have to say westerners really think all news is about them. As a westerner, I've discovered that we forget that we are less than 20% of the global population. Bringing that up in conversation can surprise people.

For news, is global population the best metric to use? Wouldn’t you want maybe the “origin of things that will effect everyone”?

What percent of the global economy? What percent of industry/invention? What percent of entertainment? What percent of military?

Edit: No one wants to address military

Re: Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

#60

Post by curryst »

ceilingcorner wrote: post #3

Sorry but unless you provide actual links to so-called misinformation, I’m going to assume that this is either overexaggerated or labeling anything against Western values as disinformation. Especially when it is described as ”This industry’s main goal is to sway public opinion during elections and protests ” which is different than every other media organization how, exactly?

Some media organizations focus on spreading information. I would say NPR focuses on that. They're not infallible, sometimes they're wrong, sometimes they miss an angle, but I get the sense that they're truly more interested in spreading information than spreading opinion.

Wikipedia as well. Other people try to use Wikipedia to sway public opinion, but Wikipedia itself seems rather opposed to articles designed for that.

Reuters seems to do some solid work as well. I don't usually get a heavy spin vibe from them, but maybe it's an international spin that I'm not in on.

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