How to curb trolls? |
Source: The Washington Post
Translation: Innovator
USA“It’s time to support the elves against trolls in the global meme war” was published in the Washington Post newspaper. The author of the article, Thomas Kent, once said “Free Europe/Azadlıg” radio station, currently USAHe is a senior researcher at the Jamestown Foundation, a lecturer at Columbia University, and an adviser on the fight against disinformation.
translates his article from English and presents it to the readers.
Kremlin Ukraine The intensive use of fake information and conspiracy theories to justify its aggression once again revealed the need for a comprehensive policy against disinformation.
Ukraine The conflict also revealed who was more willing to do the work. It’s a good lesson. It became clear that the social activists who achieved the greatest success in this field are representatives of the non-governmental sector.
Free threatening societies Russia The strongest resistance to disinformation is shown by public campaigns in democratic countries.
Last years USA His government’s efforts to combat disinformation have largely failed. Some officials fight against those who spread disinformation almost with their own methods, they try to become propagandists and agitators. However, there is no need to make up something, create counter-disinformation, and tell the truth stubbornly, loudly, and in a coordinated manner in order to dispel biased information.
More recently, in order to defend US interests abroad in social networks the revelation of the covert campaign confirms that the government is very inexperienced in such operations.
It’s a sight-seeing world, learn from Eastern Europe’s online army of non-governmental organizations. This army consists mainly of volunteers. They are both very sincere and very experienced, not even compared to the US government.
The group of volunteers actively fights Internet trolls, breaks into online cracks where conspiracy theories circulate and debunks fabrications, urges companies to stop advertising on sites that publish disinformation, and Russia they spread memes mocking his propaganda.
A meme, or internet meme news sites or social a person, a word, an event, a video, an animal, an object that becomes famous in a few days thanks to networks.
The title of an article published in Lithuania these days became a meme: “My grandfather says.” Russia will win the war. Do you also have a crazy person in your family?”
In Lithuania, there is a famous group that calls itself elves. It was created seven years ago. It now has thousands of members. Elves have appeared on the territory of other countries, including the Baltic countries and the Czech Republic.
The name of elves is taken from mythology. An elf is a humanoid supernatural being in ancient Germanic-Scandinavian mythology and Celtic folklore.
There are other civic initiatives that have sprung up spontaneously, like Elves. In February of this year, Russia next to Ukraine military An example is NAFO (North Atlantic Fellas Organization), which was created when it was attacked.
Back to the elves. They usually are social they share the works of other activists, caricaturists-artists in the media, thus enriching and supplementing the information and materials that are the guardians of democracy.
Such activity can also be found in countries where there are no elves, but in those countries this work is not carried out in a coordinated, massive way, usually it manifests itself as a limited initiative of organizations with no or very weak connections or small citizen groups. .
In such initiatives, there is a lack of experience in creating convincing videos, creating effective memes, and promptly detecting and exposing disinformation campaigns. The authors of such limited initiatives mainly represent the urban elite. The main target of disinformation is the residents of the province, simple village Its population is poorly educated groups, and people belonging to this category do not trust the urban elite very much.
In countries where democracy is threatened, public campaign organizers may face financial difficulties. Because in such countries, as a rule, the subjects of corruption suppress public initiatives and constantly condemn them for serving the interests of foreign countries. This discourages citizens and business organizations from supporting public campaigns.
Although some social activists unequivocally refuse foreign donations, there are those who are ready to accept assistance from foreign governments and foundations anyway. Aid campaigns are very important, as evidenced by the aid programs of a number of donors.
Eastern Europe some residents of their countries told me that they had to stop their activities completely, because they could not even hire a single person to monitor disinformation, attract volunteers, and organize.
America’s 50 thousand, or 10$0,000 in financial aid can be enough to keep a team in such countries for a year.
Social activists information constant, accessible professional help is also needed to develop operations and deliver them to the right audience.
Social activists committed to their work have great potential. “US Govt information We should not forget this factor when discussing the question of what steps should be taken in the field of
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