Numerous speakers and panelists at the World Economic Forum (WEF) consistently emphasized the need to censor “misinformation and disinformation” during the Davos meeting, which ran from Monday to Friday.
Top government, university and nonprofit representatives have taken aim at this alleged threat in speeches and debates across the country. summit. Many called for global cooperation to combat so-called misinformation and advocated the enforcement of certain censorship measures to curb the spread of objectionable content online, especially in the run-up to the 2024 elections. did. (Related: Exclusive: Blue states hired AI company to track election 'misinformation'; regularly flags conservative voices)
BREAKING NEWS: WEF24 Davos is underway, speakers have already finished their therapy sessions @x and @elon musk. Naomi Oreskes of Harvard University and Luciana Vaccaro of Swiss University lament their experiences with the “toxic” X platform and its “problematic” owners. pic.twitter.com/2hfmc38ATX
— Rukshan Fernando (@therealrukshan) January 15, 2024
For example, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen said:special address” said on Tuesday how “disinformation and misinformation” is a threat to the world order.
von der Leyen opened her speech by saying, “The biggest concern for the global business community over the next two years will not be conflict or climate, but disinformation and misinformation, followed by polarization within society.'' ” he said.
EC President was citing WEF's recent Global Risks 2024 reportWhich investigated In September 2023, “more than 1,400 global risk experts, policy makers, and industry leaders” will determine what they perceive to be the most significant global risks of the near future. “Misinformation and disinformation” topped the list, with “social polarization” coming in third. The report specifically identified risks related to elections to be held in 2024.
“These risks are serious because they limit our ability to tackle the great global challenges we face,” von der Leyen continued. “Once again, we are in fierce competition across countries and countries like never before in recent decades. And this makes this year's Davos theme even more relevant: Trust. Reinventing… now more than ever is the time to foster global collaboration.”
EC Vice-President for Values and Transparency Vera Jurova said at Thursday's Davos meeting that the EU is ensuring that individuals receive factual information by mandating censorship. panel About “defending the truth”.
“Disinformation is a very powerful tool,” Jurova argued. “[The EU is] We focus on improving systems that help people get the facts right. We don't talk about opinions. We do not intend to correct anyone's opinions or words. Yeah? This is about facts. ”
Mr. Jurova mentioned 2022 for the EU.2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation” Force a number of Big Tech Signer Like Google and Meta, it combats “disinformation” through measures such as “fact-checking” and demonetization. The EC also provided the Daily Caller News Foundation with European External Action Service Strategic Communications Task Forceto identify and expose “disinformation.”
Heads of international nonprofits that provide “assistance” to news organizations share insights on strategies to demonetize so-called “bad” sources during “Defending the Truth” panel discussion with Jourova did.
“Disinformation makes money, and we need to chase that money, especially working with the global advertising industry.” internews Jeanne Bourgaud, President and CEO, said: “A lot of those money goes to pretty bad content. So you can work hard on exclusion and inclusion lists to focus your advertising dollars on good news and information. Accurate and relevant. Some news and information.”
Additionally, Alexandra Reeve Givens, CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), called on Big Tech to step up efforts to censor online elections at a conference on Tuesday. panel About “Defending Democracy from Bots and Conspiracies.”
“We are in this strange environment where threats are increasing, and at the same time investment in actually doing the day-to-day work to ensure online trust and the safety of the information environment is being scaled back and exposed to attacks. There are,” Givens said. . “We need social media companies to keep doing their jobs.”
Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Twitter (now X) will all cut trust and safety headcounts in 2023. according to Go wired.
“Is there a way to get them to do that?” Foreign Policy editor-in-chief Ravi Agrawal asked Givens. “Push them to do it.”
“We take them to places like Davos and have them talk about their work,” Givens said with a laugh. “The staffing and decision-making of companies, making sure that they're making those investments, making sure that they're sharing information, making sure that they're doing that not just for U.S. elections but for other elections as well. “That has to be maintained…an important focus. Even under political pressure.”
Givens pointed to the “interventions” social media platforms employ, such as monitoring so-called misinformation and disinformation, asking users if they have read an article before sharing it, and fact-checking. These are “bare minimum” necessities for 2024, she said.
Givens after all Said At the end of the panel discussion, he said legislating the censorship of “misinformation” is “dangerous territory” and pointed out the importance of “transparency” regarding content moderation decisions. CDT directed her DCNF to manage content transparency Recommendations.
moreover, Professor of History of Science, Harvard University with Naomi Oreskes Swiss University President Luciana Vaccaro revealed their mutual dislike for billionaire Elon Musk's X on Monday forum About “Liberation of Science”.
“I was on Twitter for a long time, and now it has become such a toxic place that I've concluded it's not a place worth spending my time on,” Oreskes said. Ta. “I've already given up on X. Even that's a scary name, isn't it?”
“the [a] It's a very toxic environment…and there's no solution to that,” Vaccaro responded. “I think there will be a social reflection on how information is brought there. Of course, there are problems with the owner's policies in X now, but I think this will be a problem for society in the future.'' .”
under muskX reduced its total global trust and safety staff, including employees and contractors, by 30% from 4,062 to 2,849. according to A recent report by the Australian eSafety Commission.
Later became a reporter for Rebel News. pressed Regarding her X comment, Oreskes asked, “What's wrong with X?”
“Where do I start?” she answered with a laugh. “There's too much misinformation on that channel.”
A reporter asked if X should be subject to stricter censorship, but Oreskes said he would not respond to that question.
Harvard University, Internews, Swiss universities and WEF did not respond to DCNF's requests for comment.
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