A few years ago, the idea of fake was probably associated with the way in which people modelled their image in the real world. Today, the spread of the internet and the ability to easily create and post content makes the concept of “fake” much more related to the digital world. In particular, deepfakes are increasingly widespread and considered in the digital world, both for their possible positive uses and for those, unfortunately, manipulative. Deepfake is a new generation term, which indicates a particular technique for processing images from videos and photos. It is an algorithm based on artificial intelligence that is
Author: Suha Ayyash
Experienced practitioner and expert in Social and Behavior Change (SBC). Committed to promoting positive behavioral change, understanding social norms and human behavior. Practicing and aim to mainstream design and system thinking in our communities. Through my expertise in SBC, I create programs that address the root causes of behaviors and inspire individuals to opt for making a more positive decisions.
With a particular focus on supporting youth, promoting pluralism, and dialogue, I design and manage programs that strengthen community resilience and enrich the alternative narratives. My work involves utilizing non-formal learning methodologies to design training kits and pedagogies that promote life-long learning in areas such as digital resilience, media literacy, prevention of violent extremism, prevention of hate speech, among other thematic areas. I am experimenting with transcendent approach within peace-building and mediation, I believe in fostering a more inclusive and collaborative approach to resolving conflicts and promoting positive and sustainable peace.
Our information on the deep web: Docs – Dox – Drop dox – Doxxing!
The term Doxxing like many neologisms is a word that has evolved over time, thanks also to the widespread diffusion of the internet and social media. Essentially it means compiling and releasing a dossier of personal information about someone. Doxxing can be considered a type of online harassment (as already mentioned it is thanks to the world wild web that this phenomenon spreads) that involves the discovery of someone’s personal information, such as their real name, address, job or other identifying data. An element that characterizes this phenomenon negatively is that it occurs without the consent of the victim, with the
Regarding the power of images: a case study from Afghanistan
Photography is considered the art of portraying reality. A shot can define a portion of space, capture movements and people and at the same time contain emotions, expectations, intentions. But what reality are we talking about? Indeed, if it is true that photography is a form of art, we must start from the assumption that the artist’s vision is unique and particular. The idea lies precisely in deciding which subject to portray, and which message to associate to the image. This is the case of the picture taken by photographer Laurence Brun. It is 1972, we are in Kabul, Afghanistan, in the Shahr-e
Deepfake: The Information Boogeyman
The line between reality and simulation is becoming increasingly curtailed when it comes to media outlets. Speaking of false audiovisuals at a time in which we are still learning to deal with fake news is adding a seemingly innocuous reagent to a potentially harmful reactive mixture. I see two hypothetical polarised outcomes spanning from such a reaction. Either we obtain products of interest, such as computer-generated characters for cinematic purposes or voice clones to restore people’s voices when they lose them to disease, or we generate a catastrophic explosion by creating authentic vectors of disinformation. Deepfakes are the most well-known
Case study of fake news
Melania Trump discovers the love story between Michael Phelps and Hilary Clinton: all thanks to a secret chat on the Pokemon Go application. The story of fake news has evolved over time. Fake news, like a perfect Darwinian being, has adapted his body to the needs of nature and society. The natural selection goes from news handed down orally, to the invention of the press, to the spread of modern means of mass communication, up to the arrival of social media. Social media has drastically subverted the rules of evolution as if the dinosaurs had found themselves having to ice skate at
Privacy on the internet: the danger of doxing
The term doxing derives from the slang “dropping mix” or “dropping docs”, which was a revenge tactic used in hacker culture in the 1990s. Doxing is a type of cyber attack which aims to reveal and publicize the records of an individual, which were previously private or difficult to obtain. The process is simple: the conflict is moved from the internet to the real world by sharing personal information such as name, home address, employers, criminal record and other sensitive information that can put the victim at risk of losing their job or in immediate danger. The term doxing was heard for
Doxing
Doxing is an English term, derived from dox which is the abbreviation for documents, which as a neologism made its appearance online at the end of the first decade of 2000. However, the phenomenon has been present in the hacker community since the 90s. Historically, with the term doxing (also known as doxing) people used to refer to the act of de-anonymizing a person online, especially back in the days, when internet users preferred to use nicknames online media platforms to create their virtual persona, instead of their real names. Now, with the evolution of the habits of the utilization
The evil nature of propaganda
It is factual that disinformation stories started to acquire an endemic status in the last couple of decades. The wide dissemination of these stories by entities with an immediate intention to deceive their target audience for an ideological reason is named propaganda (1). Propaganda is worth studying since it constitutes the root for many current socio-political conflicts around the world, usually advocating for selfish national economic and geopolitical interests. The long-lasting issue between Iraq and the United States (US) is one of the most striking examples of the influence a propaganda campaign can have in shaping the socio-political sphere in
Dismantling the Donald Trump Depiction of Fake news
The term ‘fake news’ is commonly expressed without much of a thought in 2021. The phenomenon of fake news, known by many as a political pawn by conservative Americans, is much more complex than the ordinary observer might expect. It is also much more dangerous. The term ‘fake news’ has many definitions. The oxford dictionary defines fake news as ‘news that conveys or incorporates false, fabricated, or deliberately misleading information, or that is characterised as or accused of doing so’. This is; however, an extremely simplistic definition as fake news encompasses many forms of information. Some types of fake news
Social influence
In this article, I will outline psychological research on social influence and the importance of the findings on the way we react to others. Social influence refers to how other people influence our behaviour in unexpected ways. It refers to the way we adapt our behaviour to meet the demands of the social environment. This field is extensive and includes various sub-theories such as peer pressure, the psychology of conformity, obedience and persuasion, deindividuation, bystander effect, propaganda, mass media effects and other elements related to criminology. Below, I will present an overview of the field and outline some of the
Social media as a driver for political polarisation
Social media, in comparison to conventional media, can easily promote the establishment of substantial personal networks. Because a significant percentage of the population uses social media to create content, access information, and connect with others on a regular basis, online platforms are recognized influencers of users’ habits. It has been proven that the interchangeability of social feeds may have an impact on users’ online expressions and real-world behaviors and that these are susceptible to early social influence (1). This premature phenomenon often contributes to the creation of echo chambers, homogeneously systematized information environments regularly linked with fundamentalist ideologies and the
Have you heard about doxxing?
The internet has become an integral component of our daily lives. In fact, it is not an understatement to say that a day would be absolutely ruined if online services were interrupted. Many people’s lives would be brought to a halt if this happened due to our current reliance on the internet. The web ecosystem has been suffering major changes since the 90s especially at the behavioural level having social dynamics as one of the leading drivers in the process. The transition from a dialogical perspective to an interventional angle started becoming visible in the last couple of years. This
Pseudo news… hoax news… fake news
Fake news is also known as “pseudo-news” or hoax news are news or in general, content that is supposed to be informative to readers and users, whether delivered via social media or offline. They are instead presented to the wider public without any proper contextualizing details and sources. They could be themselves fabricated or written without proper quotes and therefore deprived of verifiable sources to verify them. Nowadays, due to the proliferation of social media information and because of the staggering numbers of people worldwide that have access to technology assets and related information, fake news has been gaining more and more
John Galtung and his work
“Peace appeals to the hearts – studies to the brain. Both are needed, indeed indispensable. But equally indispensable is a valid link between brain and heart.” Johan Galtung (Oslo, 1930) is a sociologist and is widely considered the founder of Peace Studies, being the first one to launch it as a field of inquiry. Holding both a PhD in Mathematics and one in Sociology, his family heavily influenced his academic path. Especially his father – a multi-faceted professional with a background at the Military Academy, a degree in Medicine and a wide knowledge of Political Economy – and his mother who
Deception: what is fake news?
Mendacium pedes non habet. Gaio Giulio Phaedrus The Lie has no feet is an expression coined by Phaedrus, a storyteller of the 1st century, who never imagined that almost 2 thousand years later his concept of lies would be overturned, gutted and reinterpreted. But let’s start by telling the story of the fairy tale of Prometheus and his apprentice called “Deception”. The mythological fairy tale of Phaedrus tells that the master Prometheus, after forging a statue named “Truth”, was suddenly summoned by Jupiter and left his workshop in the care of his apprentice “Deception”. The latter eager to emulate the master,
A misleading truth called fake news
Fake news became a widespread term, especially after the blossoming of the internet and social media as privileged platforms to communicate, interact and acquire information. In order to give a clear understanding of fake news, I will start by reviewing some definitions taken from different online dictionaries. Cambridge dictionary defines fake news as: “false stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke”. Dictionary.com defines fake news as false news stories, often of a sensational nature, created to be widely shared or distributed for the purpose of
Contextual understanding of fake news
Is it reasonable to say it is almost impossible for a human being to not have heard about fake news in the current information paradigm? I think everyone would agree that it is more than legitimate to assume so. Although the term might mislead you, fake news refers to unquestionably accurate information prepared to support, preserve, and inform you about current global concerns. The phenomenon began to expand at an unmanageable rate on the internet and social networks in recent years. However, owing to its ubiquitous nature, people tend to regard this information as deceptive. This is problematic since these political,
What is fake news?
Fabricated news reports and articles fool millions of readers on a daily basis. In most cases, the reports of this news can be easily distinguishable as fake due to the nature of the content in it. However, this is not always the case. In some scenarios, this news is not obvious to detect and can have serious consequences. Buzzfeed, an American news and entertainment site, found that American adults are able to detect fake news around 75% of the time (2016). An example of fake news having a more grave response is in 2016 when the Pakistani defence minister posted
The modern etymology of “terrorism”
In the aftermath of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York, “terrorism” is definitely the word that pops out but do people really know what it stands for? The Arab equivalent (الإرهاب), as outlined in the Al-Qur’an (Spoils of War) and translated to English by Ahmed Ali (1), comes up in a call for Muslims to “prepare against [the infidels] whatever arms and cavalry you can muster, that you may strike terror in (the hearts of) the enemies of God and your own, and others besides them not known to you, but known to God” [Al-Anfal (60)]
The history of fake news
2000 years ago, the Roman Republic was facing a civil war between Octavian, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, and Mark Anthony, one of Caesar’s most trusted commanders. To win the war, Octavian knew he had to have the public on his side because if the people didn’t back him, he would not be a successful ruler. To solicit the sympathy and the support of Roman citizens Octavian launched a ‘fake news’ campaign against Mark Anthony. He claimed Anthony, who was having an affair with Cleopatra, the Egyptian Queen, didn’t respect traditional Roman values like respect and loyalty. He also added
Understanding fake news
“The age of post-truth stretches as far back as you care to look, there never has been a golden age of transparency”, said Steven Poole in one of its most recent pieces in The Guardian, illustrating the vast history behind the infamous expression (1). Fake news is nowadays hijacked and repurposed term but its semantics are widespread in both space and time. The first well-documented narrative mentioning published non-factual information dates back to 36 BC when Octavian, adoptive son of Julius Caesar, launched a campaign to downplay Marcus Antonius, Roman politician and general, claiming he didn’t respect traditional Roman values
History of fake news
Donald Trump, Cleopatra and her lover Marco Antonio, the monsters on the Moon: the minestrone (vegetables soup) of the Fake News. The point of departure and arrival of this article, but also of the society in which we live, is the importance of truth. No news or false news in a democracy can be extremely pernicious, since at the basis of the deep concept of democracy there is the sovereignty of the people and the relationship between government and people: this relationship not only takes place through information but is also shaped by the latter. As for the origin of the word
Tracing back: history of fake news
Source: ReKnew While some scholars have tried to identify the historical origins of fake news, resulting in various versions on the topic, the truth is that fake news has probably been around for as long as humans have lived in groups. In fact, before the invention of the press, stories were transferred from mouth to mouth, inevitably changing their connotation due to interpretation differences and understanding issues. On the other hand, groups normally present internal and external power dynamics which often lead to the creation of fake stories made up in order to discredit a member of the group or external rivals.
Bias and manipulation, stereotypes promotion, raising of hate speech and the role of media
All of these are just big words and it might sound like we are just making a salad and the whole thing is simply implies irrelevant, weak language or poor knowledge… What we encounter recently for the last I do not know “number” of years (or forever) is simply PR on all levels… rarely we are having media to inform. Simply we are in a constant and in an endless process of shaping our opinions and without feeling it because the audience is easily programmed. Media is biased! This is what is generally believed to be the case and a
Can Clicktivism be considered a form of Activism?
Discussions under this topic may lead to endless debates and comparative statements such as “while some of us are hiding behind their keyboard pretending to be activists, others are actually on the street risking their lives and making some real actions”. Yet, it is a valid question and one we will keep asking ourselves… even though in many cases we may not have an answer, especially in times of tension and when drastic dehumanization is taking place… and this altitude between clicktivism and slacktivism will always be there and a point for self-reflection. Let us go back again to the
Using Istanbul’s Convention as an advocacy tool? for violence against women
In order to have a clear understanding of the topic mentioned here, we need to agree on some of the definitions and to also think about the following example/question; why do you think we have coca-cola-zero and coca-cola-light? Is it not logical to only have one type of diet cola? we will come to this “issue” at the end of this article. What is advocacy? Advocacy is a set of actions that are taken in order to influence the decisions of policy-makers. What is Istanbul’s convention? It is a document produced by the Council of Europe in the format of a convention