Thread by @olgs7

After a few months of a hiatus, reviving this tweet thread to cover the remaining material from weeks 6-14. Thanks to everyone for your patience waiting while work and other priorities got in the way.

https://twitter.com/olgs7/status/1271500145868365832?s=20

In week 6 of “Lies & Disinformation” @Georgetown, we focused on Myanmar and the Philippines as case studies into (a) domestically aimed influence operations; and (b) how digital harassment, the silencing of activist voices can play a role in influence activities.

@Georgetown The week’s readings included the fascinating “Architects of Networked Disinformation” from @jonathan_c_ong and Jason Vincent A. Cabañes: newtontechfordev.com/wp-content/upl… and “How Duterte Used Facebook To Fuel the Philippine Drug War” from @daveyalba @BuzzFeed buzzfeednews.com/article/daveya…

@Georgetown @jonathan_c_ong @daveyalba @BuzzFeed To dive into the conflict in Myanmar, students read this piece @BuzzFeed from @meghara “Internet Trolls Are Using Facebook To Target Myanmar's Muslims” buzzfeednews.com/article/meghar…. For a more recent piece on the subject, here’s @PeterGuest @restofworld restofworld.org/2020/pressing-…

@Georgetown @jonathan_c_ong @daveyalba @BuzzFeed @meghara @PeterGuest @restofworld For a better understanding of digital campaigns used to silence critics, students read “State-Sponsored Trolling: How Govts are Deploying Disinfo as Part of Brder Digital Harassment Campaigns” @_NickMonaco @camillefrancois @samuelwoolley, Carly Nyst @iftf iftf.org/statesponsored…

@Georgetown @jonathan_c_ong @daveyalba @BuzzFeed @meghara @PeterGuest @restofworld @_NickMonaco @camillefrancois @samuelwoolley @iftf In class, we watched a clip of @CBSNews Originals documentary, "Fake News, Real Consequences featuring @mariaressa @rapplerdotcom to kick off the discussion on domestic state-sponsored trolling

@Georgetown @jonathan_c_ong @daveyalba @BuzzFeed @meghara @PeterGuest @restofworld @_NickMonaco @camillefrancois @samuelwoolley @iftf @CBSNews @mariaressa @rapplerdotcom We also talked about the mixed financial and political motivation at play in some of these domestic influence activities, and watched this clip from @rapplerdotcom with Duterte's social media head Nic Gabunada

@Georgetown @jonathan_c_ong @daveyalba @BuzzFeed @meghara @PeterGuest @restofworld @_NickMonaco @camillefrancois @samuelwoolley @iftf @CBSNews @mariaressa @rapplerdotcom In class, we also covered the concepts of mass commenting and brigading and how that presents challenges in addressing campaigns that mix in use of real individuals and their authentic accounts to amplify their campaigns. How do you find it and stop it without silencing speech?

@Georgetown @jonathan_c_ong @daveyalba @BuzzFeed @meghara @PeterGuest @restofworld @_NickMonaco @camillefrancois @samuelwoolley @iftf @CBSNews @mariaressa @rapplerdotcom Students read “On the Influence of Social Bots in Online Protests” from Filippo Menczer, @pflama, Margaret Roberts, Clayton Davis which presents a domestic case study frm Mexico and we discussed how bots can affect protest communication, poison hashtags
arxiv.org/abs/1609.08239

@Georgetown @jonathan_c_ong @daveyalba @BuzzFeed @meghara @PeterGuest @restofworld @_NickMonaco @camillefrancois @samuelwoolley @iftf @CBSNews @mariaressa @rapplerdotcom @pflama In class, we also talked about how domestic political actors and influence campaigns make use of influencers to reach audiences. One good example of that is entertainer turned blogger turned government influencer Mocha Uson in the Philippines.
r3.rappler.com/newsbreak/inve…

@Georgetown @jonathan_c_ong @daveyalba @BuzzFeed @meghara @PeterGuest @restofworld @_NickMonaco @camillefrancois @samuelwoolley @iftf @CBSNews @mariaressa @rapplerdotcom @pflama Several other tactics used in domestic political trolling that we covered in class included the repurposing of online communities through name changes and context pivoting, the use of radical religious figures, and individual targeting of political opposition.

@Georgetown @jonathan_c_ong @daveyalba @BuzzFeed @meghara @PeterGuest @restofworld @_NickMonaco @camillefrancois @samuelwoolley @iftf @CBSNews @mariaressa @rapplerdotcom @pflama At end of class, we had a discussion about what might be the appropriate response to a human rights crisis in the digital age? What are conditions for digital authoritarianism? How do you both document evidence of human right abuses but also stop abuses from proliferating online?