Thread by @DisinfoEU

📢Today we release our publication "The Many Faces Fighting #Disinformation", a panorama of innovative, multidisciplinary actors safeguarding our information ecosystem. We wanted to understand their successes and their challenges. (1/19)

▶️disinfo.eu/manyfaces
cc @fnfeurope

They are rising to the #disinformation challenge with new types of expertise, like #OSINT, crowdsourcing, and data activism. They explore unusual partnerships and experiment with innovative techniques. This is a new sector taking shape. (2/19)

They also face novel challenges and risks. Despite their critical role in our information ecosystem, many civil society actors in this space struggle to make their voices heard. Their security and sustainability are not assured. (3/19)

“The term ‘fake news’ has in our opinion morphed into a catch-all phrase that does more harm than good" says Domen Savic of Slovenia-based @DrzavljanD (4/19)

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“We need to think about election years and cycles rather than the few months and weeks before. People’s opinions are shaped over a longer period of time," shares @wrklsshrd of @WhoTargetsMe (5/19)

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“Conspiracy theories are the ultimate deep fake, because they are layers upon layers upon layers that you have to unravel" says @julianevrb, founder of the news-literacy nonprofit @LieDetectorsOrg. (6/19)

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Aude Favre of @WTFake_ has had to change her phone number after a conspiracy theorist doxxed her online. “Given the people I want to investigate, I’ll probably see more of this,” she reflects. (7/19)

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“We as journalists cannot do it all. If we fight fake to fake, we’ll get tired. It’s like trying to swim in a vast sea” shared Myriam Redondo @globograma, part of #VerificaRTVE @rtve. (8/19)

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“We can only do so much fact checking. If the algorithm decides 70% of the views, it’s a losing battle" - @gchaslot, creator of AlgoTransparency. (9/19)

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“For researchers to fully understand what’s going on, I’m convinced that you have to see the data yourself" says @luca, creator of the analytical tool Account Analysis. (10/19)

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“The power of the algorithm is to personalize, so we cannot expect a group of experts to fully understand” explains @_vecna, creator of the non-profit, free software project @trackingexposed. (11/19)

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“The response to disinformation should go from a niche to being mainstreamed, because it undermines our ability to deal with any societal global issue” says Clare Melford of @DisinfoIndex. (12/19)

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“We need to find ways to make sure we aren’t working for free. We have to ensure our future" explains @carlos_hem of Maldita.es, a Spanish non-profit data journalism platform. (13/19)

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“If you are fighting disinformation, you can work only with credible and transparent donors,” says Viktoras Daukšas of @DebunkEu, an independent technological think tank and analysis center for disinformation. (14/19)

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“It’s uncomfortable being 100% dependent on funding, so we are developing diverse revenue streams to ensure we can continue supporting those relied upon for accurate information in the years to come” - @MarieBohner & @cward1e of @firstdraftnews. (15/19)

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Collaboration is key, says @EliotHiggins of @bellingcat: “Often when we come across a project... if it goes beyond the scope of what Bellingcat does or if it is something that can benefit from a collaboration, we’ll build coalitions.” (16/19)

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“We aim to highlight the work of local partners, serving as a quality guarantor” explains Rast'o Kuzel of @memo98slovakia. (17/19)

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#2021 will be an important year for the policy response to #disinformation. To effectively counter disinformation challenges, we also need an ambitious framework to sustain and further develop this civil society network. (18/19)

#DSA #DMA #EDAP #MAAP

Many thanks to the interviewees for their testimonies and their actions, and to @fnfeurope for their support for this project. You can read more about the actors on the project blog where you can also download the magazine in full. (19/19)

▶️disinfo.eu/manyfaces