1/12 🚨 Organization news!

First Draft's mission is moving to @Brown_SPH as part of a new initiative being launched today - the Information Futures Lab (@IFL_Brown). See letter from @cward1e for details. firstdraftnews.org/first-draft-up… 2/12 Our Australia team continues its work at @UTSEngage, monitoring social media and conducting research on how to counter online mis- and dis-information. They will be an official partner of the @IFL_Brown

A large amount of mis- and disinformation has circulated on social media in multiple languages over the past few days regarding #Ukraine. Trustworthy information is as important as ever in times of crisis, so here are our top tips and tools 👇 First and foremost, be wary of the difference between MISinformation and DISinformation. While they can seem interchangeable, the difference lies in the intent. Precise language is important e.g. propaganda can fall under the umbrella of disinformation

1/ First Draft’s latest piece looks at anti-Muslim content spread on YouTube and TV news in India 2/ First Draft examined 70 headlines from stories about the Tablighi Jamaat run by some of India’s most-watched news channels, as well as a number of news outlets over the past year

1/ How are climate change conspiracy theories and misinformation spreading cross-platforms and escalating over-time? 2/ First Draft’s @carlottadotto analyzed climate change-related conversations over the past year on the fringe platforms 4chan and 8kun. YouTube was the most popular domain used to support climate change denialism, followed by Bitchute, web archive links, and Wikipedia.

In the wake of recent vaccine announcements, reporters and policymakers need to be tracking “data deficits” — situations where demand for information about a topic is high, but the supply of credible information is low. We outline two of them below. 🧵👇firstdraftnews.org/long-form-arti… 1. mRNA technology, DNA alteration and foreign propaganda narratives. mRNA vaccines’ novelty and technical complexity complicates efforts to provide accessible and compelling information on this technology, while the incentive for bad actors to exploit this gap is high.

Today the UK became the first Western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine. Following this and other recent vaccine trial and approval announcements, here are five misinformation narratives reporters should be aware of when covering these stories. 🧵👇 firstdraftnews.org/latest/vaccine… 1. A Covid-19 vaccine is unnecessary; the immune system is superior. This narrative is now comparing Covid-19 survival rates to the efficacy rates of the current vaccines to suggest that our immune systems are more capable than vaccines in protecting us from Covid-19.

Next week, we’re hosting a series of discussions on the challenges of covering vaccine misinformation next year. We’re hosting one in English, one in French, and one in Spanish. Details below 👇 Join an essential discussion on misinformation on Weds 16 Dec, and get your questions answered. Register now: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regist…

We are failing to provide the right information about the Covid-19 vaccine at the right time to the right people. Here are some suggestions for what we could do 👇 [thread] firstdraftnews.org/long-form-arti… 2/ Many false notions about vaccines, such as them altering DNA, being unnecessary because survival rates from Covid-19 are 99% (very misleading), or providing a "silver bullet" -- haven’t been sufficiently addressed

(THREAD) There’s been chatter about threat modeling based on a @jayrosen_nyu piece. Since Sept ‘19, we’ve run over 25 crisis simulations with more than 1k people working in the media, at platforms and organizations with great results. What we’ve learned
pressthink.org/2020/09/the-na… 1. People don’t know what they don’t know and what they’re not ready for. 2. Putting people from different newsrooms and platforms together is necessary for us to understand the dynamics of the information environment in real time.

Between January and June, First Draft collected 9,722 fact checks about the coronavirus outbreak to find out what we could learn about misinformation. Here’s what we found (thread) firstdraftnews.org/latest/the-fir… On January 15, @rapplerdotcom debunked a social media claim that a case of SARS had been reported in Mandaluyong City, outside Manila. The article would be the first of many fact checks relating to the new coronavirus in 2020 according to our research rappler.com/newsbreak/fact…

The new Ad Observatory tool from @nyutandon is a great way to track political ad spending on Facebook. One of its best features is that it lets you monitor spending automatically with a range of different alerts. This thread will show you how. Step 1: You'll need to sign up for an account at adobservatory.org as email notifications are only available if you have registered. Luckily, this tool is free for journalists (including freelancers) and approval usually happens within a business day.

At First Draft, we have spent much of 2020 talking about the infodemic. Here are the final three pieces to bring together our editorial series, ‘Tracking the infodemic’ In this report we explore a new concept called ‘data deficits’ and why we need to monitor the demand and supply of information in real time

firstdraftnews.org/long-form-arti…

Knowing the exact time that something was posted can help you verify content on social media. Each platform has a different way of displaying dates and times. This thread will show you how to investigate a video posted on TikTok. Step 1 - Open up TikTok on your browser. Remember that to view a TikTok account you have to include the @ before the user’s handle in the URL → tiktok.com/@userhandle

Our handbook from 2017, written by @samdubberley and Michele Grant, deals with the challenges posed by vicarious trauma and offers practical tips for journalists, newsrooms managers and universities. Find it here:
firstdraftnews.org/latest/vicario… The recent pandemic prompted First Draft's @lydmorrish to offer some tips for journalists on how to take care of themselves, as the demand for coverage continues.
firstdraftnews.org/latest/how-to-…

Here's a quick thread of three top reads on information disorder for you today, collated by the First Draft monitoring team: A growing number of studies show that the key to fighting disinformation is to “catch” it early, teaching children essential digital literacy is imperative. Jaigris Hodson at @TheConversation discusses how critical thinking skills can be instilled early on theconversation.com/teaching-child…

Here's a quick thread of three top reads on information disorder for you today, collated by the First Draft monitoring team: GPT-3 is designed to create text that reads as though it was written by a human, and according to new research it could be used to create QAnon supporting bots that drive online radicalization: middlebury.edu/institute/site…

Here's a quick thread of three top reads on coronavirus and information disorder for you today, collated by the First Draft monitoring team: We tend to think of vaccine misinformation coming predominantly from anti-vaccine communities, but researchers have found that “vaccine proponents were not immune to spreading less reliable claims” misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/not-ju…

Here's a quick thread of three top reads on coronavirus and information disorder for you today, collated by the First Draft monitoring team: "The group has become known for Te Kahika’s views on Covid-19, 5G, the United Nations, and conspiracy theories about New Zealand and global leadership” @lightyouonfire ’s latest piece for @guardian
theguardian.com/world/2020/sep…

Here's a quick thread of three top reads on coronavirus and information disorder for you today, collated by the First Draft monitoring team: Conspiracy theorists such as QAnon them are seeking new avenues to reach an audience - often under a guise of ostensibly wholesome causes, as this @TB_Times report from “SavetheChildren” protests in #Lakeland shows tampabay.com/florida-politi…

Here's a quick thread of three top reads on coronavirus and information disorder for you today, collated by the First Draft monitoring team: References to non-specific authority sources can function as a warning sign that misinformation follows not far behind — new research from the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review

misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/misinf…

Here's a quick thread of three top reads on coronavirus and information disorder for you today, collated by the First Draft monitoring team: New research from @CCDHate and @RestlessDev found that fewer than 1 in 20 pieces of misinformation about vaccines were dealt with by the social media giants bbc.co.uk/news/technolog…