Abstract
Besides introducing the various chapters, Ang, Anwar and Jayakumar provide historical precedents, which form important underpinnings through which “fake news” and “disinformation” should be understood. As the authors go on to observe, terminology matters and a lack of clear grounding in meaning has lead terms such as “disinformation‚” “misinformation” and “fake news” to be conflated, hindering attempts to understand these issues. A strength of the volume lies in the bringing together of diverse perspectives across east and west. Contributors have worked on various aspects of the disinformation/fake news nexus. Some are experts on social media; others have had long experience in countermeasures and shoring up social resilience. It is only through a pooling of these collective experiences and strengths that holistic understandings can be formed about the problem at hand; it is this cooperation too that will also lend itself to effective real-world solutions.
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Notes
- 1.
Alex Loktionov, ‘Ramesses II, Victor of Kadesh: A Kindred Spirit of Trump?’ The Guardian, 5 Dec 16. https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2016/dec/05/ramesses-ii-victor-of-kadesh-a-kindred-spirit-of-trump (accessed 20 Jan 2020).
- 2.
For some examples, see Julie Posetti and Alice Matthews, ‘A Short Guide to the History of “Fake News” and Disinformation’, International Center for Journalists, 23 Jul 18. https://www.icfj.org/sites/default/files/2018-07/A%20Short%20Guide%20to%20History%20of%20Fake%20News%20and%20Disinformation_ICFJ%20Final.pdf.
- 3.
Izabella Kaminska, ‘A Lesson in Fake News from the Info-Wars of Ancient Rome’, Financial Times, 17 Jan 17.
- 4.
For examples, see Jacob Soll, ‘The Long and Brutal History of Fake News’, Politico, 8 Dec 16. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/fake-news-history-long-violent-214535 (accessed 22 Jan 2020).
- 5.
Natalie Nougayrède, ‘In This Age of Propaganda, We Must Defend Ourselves. Here’s How’, The Guardian, 31 Jan 18. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/31/propaganda-defend-russia-technology.
- 6.
J.-B. Jeangène Vilmer, A. Escorcia, M. Guillaume, and J. Herrera, Information Manipulation: A Challenge for Our Democracies, report by the Policy Planning Staff (CAPS) of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM) of the Ministry for the Armed Forces, Paris, August 2018. https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/information_manipulation_rvb_cle838736.pdf (accessed 3 Jan 2020).
- 7.
Norman Vasu, Benjamin Ang, and Shashi Jayakumar (eds.), DRUMS: Distortions, Rumours, Untruths, Misinformation and Smears (Singapore: World Scientific, 2019).
- 8.
See Norman Vasu, Benjamin Ang, and Shashi Jayakumar, ‘Introduction: The Seemingly Unrelenting Beat of DRUMS’, vii–xxii.
- 9.
See Claire Wardle and Hossein Derakhshan, Information Disorder: Towards an Interdisciplinary Framework for Research and Policymaking. Council of Europe, 27 Sep 17, p. 20. https://rm.coe.int/information-disorder-toward-an-interdisciplinary-framework-for-researc/168076277c (accessed 12 Nov 19).
- 10.
What has been presented by way of categorization represents a refinement to previous suggestions by researchers from the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS). See Norman Vasu, Benjamin Ang, Terri-Anne-Teo, Shashi Jayakumar, Muhammad Faizal, and Juhi Ahuja, Fake News, Influence Operations and National Security in the Post-Truth Era, RSIS Policy Report, January 2018. https://www.rsis.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/PR180313_Fake-News_WEB.pdf.
- 11.
Brian Fung and Ahiza Garcia, ‘Facebook Has Shut Down 5.4 Billion Fake Accounts This Year’, CNN, 13 Nov 19.
- 12.
Tim Hwang, Maneuver and Manipulation: On the Military Strategy of Online Information Warfare, United States Army War College Press, Advancing Strategic Thought Series, May 2019.
- 13.
Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy, and Sinan Aral, ‘The Spread of True and False News Online’, Science, Vol. 359, Issue 6380, 9 Mar 2018, pp. 1146–1151.
- 14.
Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III, Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election (U.S. Department of Justice, March 2019).
- 15.
“‘A new abnormal: It is still 2 minutes to midnight’. 2019 Doomsday Clock Statement, Science and Security Board, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 2019, p. 5. https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/2019-doomsday-clockstatement/#”.
- 16.
Lily Hay Newman, ‘Facebook Removes a Fresh Batch of Innovative, Iran-Linked Fake Accounts’, WIRED, 28 May 19. https://www.wired.com/story/iran-linked-fake-accounts-facebook-twitter/.
- 17.
See for example Joint Statement from DOJ, DOD, DHS, DNI, FBI, NSA, and CISA on Ensuring Security of 2020 Elections, 5 Nov 19. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2019/11/05/joint-statement-doj-dod-dhs-dni-fbi-nsa-and-cisa-ensuring-security-2020-elections, and ‘Overview of the Process for the U.S. Government to Notify the Public and Others Regarding Foreign Interference in U.S. Elections’, https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/Overview%20of%20the%20Process%20for%20the%20U.S.%20Government%20to%20Notify%20the%20Public%20and%20Others%20Regarding%20Foreign%20Interference%20in%20U.S.%20Elections%20(1).pdf?mod=article_inline.
- 18.
See for example Protected Voices. https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/foreign-influence/protected-voices.
- 19.
See for example Operation Secondary Infektion, Atlantic Council/DFRLab (various authors), 22 Jun 19. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/operation-secondary-infektion/; also see Issie Lapowsky, ‘Inside the Research Lab Teaching Facebook About Its Trolls’, WIRED, 15 Aug 18. (On the critical work done by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research [DFRLab] Lab in collaboration with Facebook).
- 20.
Eliot Higgins, ‘New Generation of Digital Detectives Fight to Keep Russia Honest’, Stopfake.org, 15 Jul 16. https://www.stopfake.org/en/new-generation-of-digital-detectives-fight-to-keep-russia-honest/.
- 21.
Cass R. Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule, ‘Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures’, The Journal of Political Philosophy, Vol. 7, Issue 2, 2009, pp. 202–227.
- 22.
Nicole Brown, ‘“Emotional Skepticism” Needed to Stop Spread of Deepfakes on Social Media, Expert Says’, CBS News, 12 Nov 19. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/deepfakes-on-social-media-users-have-responsibility-not-to-spread-fake-content-expert-says/.
- 23.
As the tech platforms themselves have observed in the course of their own takedowns, malicious actors are making progress in efforts to mask identities online. ‘Removing Bad Actors in Facebook’, 31 Jul 18. https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/07/removing-bad-actors-on-facebook/.
- 24.
As one contributor to this volume (Donara Barojan), has elsewhere remarked, “Disinformation Is Moving from Outright Falsehoods to Highly Divisive/Extreme Authentic Content That Is Inauthentically Amplified” (Donara Barojan, remarks at the NATO StratCom Centre of Excellence DigiCom19 Seminar, Riga, 30 Oct 19. The editors thank Barojan for a personal communication).
- 25.
Tony Romm and Isaac Stanley-Becker, ‘Twitter to Ban All Political Ads Amid 2020 Election Uproar’, The Washington Post, 30 Oct 19. Facebook’s stance at the time of writing (November 2019) is markedly different: the platform has rescinded an earlier ban on false claims in political advertising, with many classes of political advertising now also exempt from third party fact checking. Alex Hern, ‘Facebook Exempts Political Ads from Ban on Making False Claims’, The Guardian, 4 Oct 19. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/04/facebook-exempts-political-ads-ban-making-false-claims.
- 26.
Katy Minshall, ‘Serving the Public Conversation for #GE2019’, 11 Nov 19. https://blog.twitter.com/en_gb/topics/events/2019/serving-the-public-conversation-for-ge2019.html.
- 27.
Amongst the many other refinements in technique, one which bears watching is “narrative laundering”, which has a long history but has been updated for the information age. Certain state narratives can be diffused from official organs or state propaganda to achieve wider currency, and believability, through “useful idiots”, other publications, social media, and other assets. These might include think tanks, and media outlets seen to be relatively unbiased, and of course fake online identities. ‘New White Paper on GRU Online Operations Puts Spotlight on Pseudo-Think Tanks and Personas’, Stanford Internet Observatory, 12 Nov 19. https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io/news/potemkin-pages-personas-blog; for a full exposition, see Renée DiResta and Shelby Grossman, Potemkin Pages & Personas: Assessing GRU Online Operations, 2014–2019, Stanford Internet Observatory Cyber Policy Center, https://fsi-live.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/potemkin-pages-personas-sio-wp.pdf (pp. 5–8, 13 on narrative laundering).
- 28.
US 2020: Another Facebook Disinformation Election? Avaaz, 5 Nov 19. https://avaazimages.avaaz.org/US_2020_report_1105_v04.pdf.
- 29.
For an in-depth examination see Camille François, Ben Nimmo, and C. Shawn Eib, The IRACopyPasta Campaign, Graphika, Oct 19. https://graphika.com/uploads/Graphika%20Report%20-%20CopyPasta.pdf. Many sleeper accounts gain trust by first posting innocuous news, only later switching to polarising messaging close to pressure point such as an election. ‘The St. Petersburg Troll Factory Targets Elections from Germany to the United States’, EUvsDisinfo, 2 Apr 19. https://euvsdisinfo.eu/the-st-petersburg-troll-factory-targets-elections-from-germany-to-the-united-states/.
- 30.
Natasha Korecki, ‘“Sustained and Ongoing” Disinformation Assault Targets Dem Presidential Candidates’, Politico, 20 Feb 19. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/2020-candidates-social-media-attack-1176018.
- 31.
Alina Polyakova, ‘#DisinfoWeek Brussels 2019 Storyteller: Unpacking the Toolkit of Influence’, 7 Mar 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhQY45aUkXI&feature=youtu.be (see 12.55–13.18; accessed 3 Jan 2020).
- 32.
See Kim Sengupta, ‘James Le Mesurier death: Co-founder of White Helmets Besieged by Funding Worries and Russian Propaganda Campaign Against Him’, The Independent, 15 Nov 19, and Shelly Banjo and Alyza Sebenius, ‘Trolls Renew Social Media Attacks on Hong Kong’s Protesters’, Bloomberg, 4 Nov 19 (accessed 11 Nov 19).
- 33.
Sabrina Tavernese and Aiden Gardiner, ‘“No One Believes Anything”: Voters Worn Out by a Fog of Political News’, The New York Times, 18 Nov 19 (accessed 27 Nov 19).
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Ang, B., Anwar, N.D., Jayakumar, S. (2021). Disinformation & Fake News: Meanings, Present, Future. In: Jayakumar, S., Ang, B., Anwar, N.D. (eds) Disinformation and Fake News. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5876-4_1
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