In today's #vatniksoup, I'll talk briefly about the Community Notes system and why it doesn't work. I've previously stated that the Community Notes mechanism is a "mob rule" and can be played easily by big accounts and troll farms.
1/15
Community Notes is a community-driven content moderation program, intended to provide informative context based on a crowd-sourced voting system. As of Nov 2023, this system had over 130 000 contributors.
2/15
The idea of a crowd-sourced system as a moderation tool did not come from Elon - it was announced already back in 2020 when it was called Birdwatch. Musk later rebranded the system as Community Notes and sold it to the platform as something new.
3/15
Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin) has made a very extensive (and technical) analysis on the tool and the Community Notes algorithm as a whole.
I disagree with him on some points, but I really suggest to everyone to read it:
Also, focusing the analysis only on the algorithm and the technical aspects is simplifying the concept, as it rules out the most important variable: human factor.
People are prone to bias and disinformation tends to spread much more aggressively than the truth.
5/15
Twitter's former head of safety, Yoel Roth, has stated that the system was never intended to replace the curation team, but to complement it. But all this of course changed after Elon sacked everyone from Twitter's Trust and Safety in order to save money.
6/15
These sackings have resulted in long response times on reports on hate speech - X's attempts to deal with hateful direct messages has slowed down by 70%.
As of today, the company doesn't have any full-time staff singularly dedicated to hateful conduct issues globally.
7/15
Some Community Notes contributors (who are also NAFO activists) have claimed that the system is riddled with coordinated manipulation, infighting and lack of oversight from the platform. Also, many contributors engage in conspiracy-fueled discussions.
8/15
The Notes system also has a huge problem with its scalability. During events like the 7 Oct 2023 Hamas terrorist attack, the amount of disinformation grows so large, that it's simply impossible for the small community to keep up and check factuality of said content.
9/15
Analysis by NewsGuard showed that the most popular disinformation posts related to the Israel-Hamas war (not so surprisingly originating from serial liars like @jacksonhinklle, @drloupis and @ShaykhSulaiman) failed to receive Community Notes 68% of the time.
10/15
These big accounts also have the ability to fight against the Notes they've received by mobilizing people who support their views. In the most tragicomic instance, @elonmusk claimed, without any evidence, that a Community Note on his post was "gamed by state actors".
11/15
Other than being humiliated and ridiculed, getting Community Noted doesn't really have any major downsides. Noted posts don't provide you income and advertisers can decide if they want to show ads on accounts like @dom_lucre's, but most of these...
12/15
...so-called superspreader accounts make most of their income through other means, namely through the X's subscription system. Also, many of them, including @stillgray and (allegedly) @jacksonhinklle are employed by state actors like Russia and the CCP.
13/15
With accounts that post tens or hundreds posts a day, the Notes are also inefficient - while the Community is trying to put a note on a post that's clearly disinformation, there are already 10 or 20 new ones to replace it in the algorithm.
14/15
To conclude, Community Notes are a non-functional and slow mechanism that's desperately trying to replace the Trust and Safety team. They work on a "mob rule" basis and big enough accounts (including the owner of the platform) can play around the system.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the Wagner Group, its founders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, and the mutiny they started on 23 Jun 2023. The event marked the climax of the Wagner Group–Russian MoD conflict, and finally led to the deaths of Prigozhin and Utkin.
1/22
Wagner has been used in many conflicts around the world, but they came to global prominence during the war in Donbas in 2014-2015. Wagnerites helped the Donbas separatists fight against the Ukrainians during the conflict, which helped Putin to “outsource” the insurrection.
2/22
The group doesn’t have any central ideology, but many of its members and leaders have ties to various neo—Nazi movements in Russia. For example, Wagner leader Dmitry Utkin had several Nazi symbols tattooed on his body. Neo—nazi group Rusich has also fights as part of Wagner.
3/22
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an Amsterdam-based propaganda channel, Bonanza Media (@bonanzamedia2). It’s best-known for producing & spreading online pro-Kremlin propaganda videos while closely coordinating & collaborating with the Russian intelligence agency GRU.
1/19
Russian intelligence has been extremely active in the Netherlands for a long time. For example in 2018, four GRU agents were caught while trying to hack into OPCW,an organization that monitors the use of chemical weapons. In addition, the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
2/19
…and the MH17 investigation have become targets for the Russian intelligence and propaganda operations. These operations are often complemented with “investigative journalism” media outlets, that often echo the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll talk about the recent EU elections and what are their implications for both the Kremlin and Ukraine. Right-wing political parties, some pro-Kremlin, won a lot of seats around Europe, and this result can also change the EU’s stance on Ukraine.
1/19
But before we start, I want to promote a truck fundraiser I'm doing together with the fantastic @ArturRehi and @69thSB.
Our goal is 20 000 USD, and you can contribute to this important fundraiser here:
EU’s support of Ukraine is essential for their survival against genocidal Russia. So far,this support has been delayed mostly by Orban’s Hungary (& to some degree, Fico’s Slovakia). Now, this support will probably be challenged by many new members of the European Parliament.
3/19
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss a specific propaganda/disinformation that the Kremlin likes to use – antisemitism. I also talk about how the Russian society itself has become riddled with antisemitism & how this has led to a decrease in Jewish population in the country.
1/19
Russian antisemitism works on many levels, and their narratives vary depending whether they’re targeting a local audience or people in Europe and the US. For example for the latter, Russia attempts to create a false narrative of Ukraine being an antisemitic “Nazi state”.
2/19
But before diving deeper, let’s look at a survey data of Russians in 2023: Nearly 30 million Russians harbour antisemitic attitudes, and 15% of those surveyed believed that “Jews were responsible for most of the world’s wars.” 38% think that the Jews have...
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Ukrainian media personality and propagandist, Diana Panchenko (@Panchenko_X). She’s best-known for betraying her own country by peddling anti-Zelenskyy and anti-Ukraine propaganda and disinformation for the Kremlin.
1/22
Panchenko was born in 1988 in the Mykolaev Oblast in Ukrainian SSR in 1988. She studied publishing and editing at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and later graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a degree in law.
2/22
After graduating, Diana worked briefly for the news site . Between 2010 and 2015, Panchenko was a presenter for KyivTV, but she found her true calling as a pro-Kremlin propagandist after she was hired by a national “news channel” called NewsOne.