Thread by @Qnie_Addis

Thread
#BadScience: activism masquerading as scholarship

Three scholars started out with a commendable research question: to see whether disinformation was being used in the ‘Tigray’ conflict by both sides! The bad news is they did a very bad job! Exceptionally bad!

For this thread I collaborated with the exceptionally talented @malesadin and here are our findings.

1/ In terms of methodology, the researchers used qualitative methods to contextualize their SM data analysis, but don’t give the details of the qualitative side of the research

This makes it almost impossible for other researchers to replicate their research and confirm or dis-confirm their findings. Why the authors chose to do this is anyone’s guess!

2/ They analysed tweets & SM posts in English, but not those in Amharic/Tigrigna. The exploitation of the three languages by the pro-TPLF side to call for war in Tigrigna, to intimidate other Ethiopians in Amharic & play the victim in English is the very crux of their strategy

This is very problematic and if the authors had any inkling about the role of language in the conflict, they would not have made far reaching 'conclusions' embedded throughout their text.

3/ In our opinion, the fatal flaw at the very heart of their argument is their operationalization of “disinformation.” In their article, they defined disinformation as “the deliberate creation and sharing of information known to be false,” ......

....and designated claims on SM as “demonstrably false,” “unverified,” “unverifiable,” or “corroborated.” How did they verify the truthfulness of the information? Based on news articles and HR groups reporting!

This in its turn leads to another question which is: how do you know the news articles and the reports from HR groups are not disinformation? If these esteemed researchers did their research at the time of the Iraqi war, they would have concluded that Iraq possessed WMDs!

If it was during the war on Libya, they would have told the world that the claim by Amnesty that soldiers of Gaddafi were being given free Viagra to encourage mass rape.

In case of #Ethiopia, the pro-#Ethiopian side has been leveling a charge that the MSM and HR groups are engaging in informational warfare against Ethiopia and here the three researchers are using them as the very measures of truth and impartiality. The arbiters of Truth!

If you take a look at the list of articles they cited, you will be shocked by the inclusion of such luminaries of disinformation such as Declan Walsh & Lucy Kassa! Quoting these individuals in a scientific work on Ethiopia is like quoting Judith Miller about WMDs & the Iraqi war

4/ They designated the two groups as pro-Tigrayan and pro-Government. They acknowledge the second camp is very diverse, united by “a common foe—the TPLF” ….and then go ahead and designate the group as pro-government. This effort at manipulating the narrative is very striking.

There is a substantial pro-Ethiopian anti-GOE bloc on SM. So why not call it pro-EthiopianUnity, since you are calling the other side pro-Tigrayan?

This is an attempt to de-legitimize the voice of ordinary Ethiopians on SM by claiming that they are somehow tied to the government and not representative of the population at large. Bad science!

5/The article is rife with such examples of biases that make your eyes pop and makes you wonder how this paper ever made passed through peer review if there was any!

Let’s share some of these gems of academic excellence :/
[@EthioCyberia contributed]

- “Tigrayans and their allies used Twitter to engage in online activism, but the Ethiopian government and its supporters...to discredit Tigrayan activists, framing the violence as fabricated, exaggerated, or caused by TPLF.”

Clearly, the authors have already made a verdict – Pro-TPLF allegations are true unless proved otherwise? Ever heard of burden of proof?

- “While a full analysis of hate speech is beyond the scope of our study,....gov. and pro-gov. media has at times positioned Tigrayans as collectively responsible for the EPRDF’s repression. Rhetoric that blurs the lines between Tigrayans and the TPLF pre-dates the conflict”

Where is the data here? On the contrary, there are numerous references from the PM urging for differentiation bn TPLF & Tigrayans. When you start accusing a legitimate gov, while claiming the work is out of scope....given the gravity of the issue, is very IRRESPONSIBLE!

- "Throughout the conflict Tigrayan civilians have experienced significant amounts of violence, but members of other identity groups are being killed,& there are some signs that the TDF MAY be perpetrating reprisal violence in some contested areas."

So pro-#TPLF allegations are true unless proven false, while for other Ethiopians, their allegations are allegations until proven True?! This is #GaslightingEthiopia at its best!

- The study also claims that Berhe didn't claim to be a priest & the video in question was clearly labelled as re-enactment.

In the video, Berhe made a claim to be a priest and the video was labelled as reenactment after 48 hrs. The narrative originated in SM not state media

6/ In their conclusion, the authors report that they do not have enough data to reach any conclusions, which begs the question why the text was littered with clearly with pro-TPLF talking points. There is also very little data for a paper that claims to be about data!

This is just extension of western narrative hegemony through another means! Not only our narratives but also our truth and our reality are at stake! Our rallying cry is #DigitalAdwa

@claireLwilmot Ellen Tveteraas @CyberAlexi @ShorensteinCtr @RANDEurope

#BadScience
#Retract

Here is a lnk to the study:
mediamanipulation.org/case-studies/d…