World Day Against Cyber Censorship: RSF runs “one of the world’s biggest censorship circumvention operations”

To mark World Day Against Cyber Censorship, which Reporters Without Borders (RSF) initiated and which is celebrated on 12 March, RSF is pleased to announce that its Operation Collateral Freedom is currently enabling the websites of more than 100 media outlets in 32 countries to circumvent censorship – a 20% increase in one year. Launched by RSF in 2015, Operation Collateral Freedom enables media outlets throughout the world to circumvent […]

March 12, 2024 3

Science & Technology

OpenAI’s new video generation tool raises concerns

"Sora" is another giant leap in artificial intelligence. It is the latest tool released by the company behind the groundbreaking chatbot ChatGPT. It can create realistic-looking videos based on a simple text prompt. But there are concerns about what "Sora" could unleash.

March 7, 2024 26

Namibia

Information Ministry to serve as central hub for late President Geingob’s funeral plans

Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Peya Mushelenga, has urged the public to disregard information circulating on social media regarding the mourning and funeral arrangements of the late President Hage Geingob. Geingob who was 82, died on Sunday in Windhoek.

February 7, 2024 16

Lifestyle

Disinformation is often blamed for swaying elections – the research says something else

Alexandru Nika/Shutterstock Magda Osman, Cambridge Judge Business School Many countries face general elections this year. Political campaigning will include misleading and even false information. Just days ago, it was reported that a robocall impersonating US president Joe Biden had told recipients not to vote in the presidential primary. But can disinformation significantly influence voting? There are two typical styles of election campaigning. One is positive, presenting favourable attributes of politicians […]

January 29, 2024 13

Lifestyle

Deepfakes: How to empower youth to fight the threat of misinformation and disinformation

Deepfakes pose a profound social threat, and education along with technology and legislation matters for containing and addressing this. (Shutterstock) Nadia Naffi, Université Laval The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2024 has issued a stark warning: misinformation and disinformation, primarily driven by deepfakes, are ranked as the most severe global short-term risks the world faces in the next two years. In October 2023, the Innovation council of Québec shared […]

January 29, 2024 3

World

EU launches investigation into X, formerly known as Twitter

The European Commission has launched a formal investigation into Elon Musk's X platform for breaching the EU's new social media laws. The probe, a global first, relates to a number of suspected failures, including the mishandling of illegal content and disinformation.

December 18, 2023 29

Opinion Pieces

Social media content in times of war: an expert guide on how to keep violence off your feeds

There are some practical ways to filter the amount of violent and graphic content you see on social media. Megan Knight, University of Hertfordshire Social media platforms are a great source of information and entertainment. They also help us to maintain contact with friends and family. But social media can also – and has, often – become a toxic environment for spreading disinformation, hatred and conflict. Most people can’t or […]

November 3, 2023 8