THE GROWING THREAT OF DISINFORMATION:AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

Senior Vice President

H&R Block

KIPKNIGHT

@KIPKNIGHT

6 What is ”disinformation” (aka Fake

News)?

What are some current examples?

What caused an increase in

disinformation across the globe?

What dangers does disinformation pose?

How can you spot disinformation?

What can we do to stem the rising tide of

disinformation?

QUESTIONS:

“Dezinformatsiya”

Started by Russians in 1923

”Psychological Warfare”

Examples of Russia campaigns:

• 1980 - US supports apartheid• 1982 - US would use nuclear

weapons against NATO allies• 1985 – US invented AIDS

Q2 What is ”disinformation” (aka Fake

News)?

What are some current examples?

What caused an increase in

disinformation across the globe?

What dangers does disinformation pose?

How can you spot disinformation?

What can we do to stem the rising tide of

disinformation?

Real or Fake News Site?

Russia – “We’re Back!”

Q3 What is ”disinformation” (aka Fake

News)?

What are some current examples?

What caused an increase in

disinformation across the globe?

What dangers does disinformation pose?

How can you spot disinformation?

What can we do to stem the rising tide of

disinformation?

Who Can We Turn To For The Truth?

Digitally Connected World

• 3.4 billion internet users (and

growing).

• 500M tweets are sent each day.

• 7 hours of YouTube uploaded

every second

• With 2 billion active users,

Facebook is the largest “country”

in the world.

When Your Beliefs Are Challenged?

Enter The Modern "Echo Chamber”

Social Media Multiplier Effect

October 2015: ISIS created 1,150propaganda events from 35 different media production units

• 40,000 tweets

originating from

this one app in

a single day!

Example of Multiplier Effect

Example of Multiplier Effect

All ”multipliers” are not equal when it comes to amplifying social media messages.

Q4 What is ”disinformation” (aka Fake

News)?

What are some current examples?

What caused an increase in

disinformation across the globe?

What dangers does disinformation

pose?

How can you spot disinformation?

What can we do to stem the rising tide of

disinformation?

Highly coordinated disinformation campaign:

Fake screenshots from Twitter on CNN

Fake LA TV stations, newspapers,websites

Fake YouTube videos

Wikipedia page created for the disaster

Bogus text messages to residents

9/11/14 Columbian Chemical Plant

(Louisiana) Fake Disaster

Dress rehearsal for something much bigger in the future?

Q5 What is ”disinformation” (aka Fake

News)?

What are some current examples?

What caused an increase in

disinformation across the globe?

What dangers does disinformation pose?

How can you spot disinformation?

What can we do to stem the rising tide of

disinformation?

7 TIPS ON HOW TO

SPOT FAKENEWS

THINK LIKE A JOURNALIST!

HOW TO SPOT FAKE

NEWS:TIP #1 CONSIDER THE SOURCE

HOW TO SPOT FAKE

NEWS:TIP #2

VERIFY THE SOURCE

HOW TO SPOT FAKE

NEWS:TIP #3

CHECK THE DATE!

HOW TO SPOT FAKE

NEWS:TIP #4

HOW TO SPOT FAKE

NEWS:TIP #5

READ BEYOND THE HEADLINE

HOW TO SPOT FAKE

NEWS:TIP #6

IS IT A JOKE?

HOW TO SPOT FAKE

NEWS:TIP #7

How Snopes Evaluates A Claim

Q6 What is ”disinformation” (aka Fake

News)?

What are some current examples?

What caused an increase in

disinformation across the globe?

What dangers does disinformation pose?

How can you spot disinformation?

What can we do to stem the rising tide

of disinformation?

Let’s Start With What Doesn’t Work

Partial List of Fake Website (there are 100’s)

Ideal: “Catch Them In The Act”

Other Ways To Counter Fake News

1) On-going review of web

content (by humans as well as

algorithms) by platform hosts

(such as Facebook)

2) Hold Google more

accountable for Adsense

3) Make it easier for users to flag

offensive content

4) Educate the public on what

”fake news” is and what to do

Summary Communication revolution underway

Important interests and values at risk

Urgent need to educate public

Need to act on these threats now!