Fake (fake) news Fake news

The term "fake news" means the dissemination of false information on media and social networks. Fake news is created to manipulate people and spread because of a thirst for power. Often they are based on prejudice and are specifically made to be difficult to distinguish from real news. The worst thing about fake news is that they make people enemies.

Falsifying history

Main article Falsification of history

Fake accounts to spread news

• Fake Facebook accounts

2024: Israeli ministry pays for propaganda using fake social media accounts to get guns from US

The Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs organized a campaign in the United States to increase support for hostilities in the Gaza Strip and receive military assistance from the United States. The campaign included the use of fake social media accounts to post pro-Israel posts, sources said. This was reported in early June 2024 by The New York Times. Read more here.

2022

The share of "information skeptics" in Russia among young people aged 14-25 was 65%

On June 28, 2023, representatives of the Institute for Statistical Research and Knowledge Economics of the Higher School of Economics reported that based on the results of a representative survey of Russians, they studied how much they value the reliability of information on the Internet and in what ways they are trying to ensure it.

As reported, development, Internet free access to the network, anonymity of placement content led to an explosive increase in the number of fakes - false information messages - on different network resources. In recent years, he "connected" to the creation of "information hoaxes," already artificial intelligence capable of generating content that is difficult to distinguish from human-created. Under these conditions, the ability to identify and question false information, use various strategies and tools to verify its reliability, becomes especially important for Internet users.

As shown by a survey of the population conducted by the Higher School of Economics (aged 14 years and older), in 2022, a little more than half of Internet users (50.4%) have recently encountered information on the network with the veracity of which doubts arose.

The other half includes both users who received information exclusively from reliable sources, and those who encountered fakes, but did not question them, did not record such facts.

Among Russians who had a case with suspicious information on the Internet, 57.3% tried to check its reliability. Among young people (14-25 years old), the share of such users is higher - 65%. Residents of million-plus cities (63%) are more likely to show "informational skepticism" and conduct factchecking. There are noticeably fewer such users among representatives of older age groups (39.8% in the 65 + group), although they quite often see information on the network, the veracity of which they doubt (48% of the total number of users of this age group).

Tried to check the accuracy of the information

The ability to validate content is an important element of overall digital literacy. The survey showed that Russians with a higher level of digital skills are more likely to use various strategies to verify information. So, among users who own them at a high level, 84% of those who encountered dubious information took any action to verify it, and only 37% among users with a minimum level of digital skills.

The most common strategy for verifying the reliability of information is to search for its original source. According to the results of the ISIEZ HSE survey, 59% of Russian users choose this method. According to surveys by a research company Ipsos (2020), 51% of residents turn to him, Brazil 41% USA - and 38% of residents. Australia

Information Validation Checks

Doubtful information, 37.9% of users discussed with friends or relatives, on forums or on social networks. About the same number (37.1%) tried to find the facts to confirm or refute it.

Only 4.8% of respondents resorted to the help of special services for checking information (for example, Snopes, "Verified," Fakecheck). In some countries, this strategy is used much more often: in Australia, 25% of network users who check information from the Internet turn to it, in the USA - 35%, in Brazil - 39%.

In Spain, for the first time sent to prison for fakes on the Internet

The Supreme Court of Catalonia passed the first sentence in Spain for spreading fakes on social networks. This became known in November 2022.

The convict turned out to be an employee of the civil guard of the kingdom. He, as established by the investigation and the court, in 2019 published an unreliable video on his page on the social network, which depicted the attack of a minor migrant. Later it turned out that the scenes were filmed in China.

In Spain, sent to prison for fakes on the Internet

The prosecution believes the trickster acted "based on his hostility and rejection of foreign migrants of Moroccan origin" and liked to post xenophobic comments on his account.

The man was sentenced to 15 months in prison and a fine of €1,620. In addition, he needs to close his social media profiles. Since the duration of the sentence is less than two years in prison and the convict did not have such precedents, according to Spanish practice, he will be able to avoid real imprisonment.

By November 8, 2022, Spain is considering a similar incident: Barcelona prosecutors are asking for two years in prison for a woman who posted a video on her Twitter account in June 2019 showing an act of aggression by an alleged group of migrant students against a teacher. In fact, the incident took place in Brazil, not Spain.

In August 2022, the non-profit organization Media Matters for America reported that many Spanish-language videos containing false information remain on social networks, despite the active policy of banning such content in Spain. Experts have identified three Spanish-language YouTube channels (the total number of subscribers exceeds 880 thousand people) that publish fake information.^[1]

Blocking Google News in Russia for fake news

On March 23, 2022, against the background of a special operation Russia , he To Ukraine Roskomnadzor announced the blocking Google of News for distributing fake news.

Roskomnadzor demanded that Google stop distributing false advertising messages

Roskomnadzor demanded that Google stop distributing false advertising messages. This became known on March 3, 2022. Read more here.

Putin signed a law punishing fakes about the armed forces. Will be planted for 15 years

In early March 2022 Russia Vladimir Putin , the president signed a law on punishment for fakes on the armed forces of the Russian Federation. The maximum punishment under Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code is 15 years in prison - such a period will be given if the spread of fakes has socially dangerous consequences.

Federal law establishes criminal liability for the public dissemination under the guise of reliable reports of deliberately false information containing data on the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in order to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens, maintain international peace and security, - reported on the Kremlin website.

Deliberately false fakes will be punished with fines from 700,000 to 1.5 million rubles, or you can get up to three years in prison. If they are created by officials organized by a group, evidence (for example, photos, videos) is made artificially or there is a motive for hatred and enmity - this threatens with fines from 3 to 5 million rubles.

Those who call for "obstruction of the use of Russian troops to protect the interests of Russia, maintain peace and security" or for discrediting such use will be prosecuted, if during the previous year the offender has already been punished for this administratively (Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). Sanctions on this composition: a fine of 100,000 to 300,000 rubles, imprisonment or forced labor for up to three years. If calls or discrediting entailed "grave consequences," then fines will range from 300,000 to 1 million rubles. The alternative is imprisonment of up to five years.

In addition, the law assumes that calls for sanctions against the Russian Federation fall under criminal liability. The punishment under the new article provides for a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles, or in the amount of wages, or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to three years. It is also possible to punish in the form of restriction of freedom, forced labor to 3 years, arrest to 6 months or imprisonment for up to 3 years with a possible fine of up to 200,000 rubles or in the amount of the convict's salary for a period of up to one year.^[2]

Brazilian experts have created a platform for automatic detection of fakes

Brazilian experts have created a platform for automatic detection of fakes. This became known on February 24, 2022. Read more here.

Law enforcement agencies liquidated two bot farms in Lviv

On February 10, 2022, it became known that the cyber specialists of the SBU discovered and liquidated two botoferms in Lviv. Their total "power" was 18 thousand fake accounts.

Photo: securitylab.ru

As established by the investigation, three residents of the Lviv region were involved in illegal activities. Two intruders equipped their premises for the needs of "botoferms," and the third - provided their maintenance.

Botoferms worked mainly in social networks. In particular, fakes were spread to inflame panic. It was also established that robots published false information about the mining of objects, including social and critical infrastructure. During the searches, law enforcement officers found and seized:

• two sets of GSM gateways: 92 and 375 online channel;
• 3 thousand SIM card operators;
• laptops with evidence of illegal activities;
• draft accounting.

Investigative actions continue within the framework of criminal proceedings initiated under Art. 259 (knowingly false report of a threat to the safety of citizens, destruction or damage to property) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine to establish all the circumstances and persons involved in the functioning of the botofarm.

Measures to expose illegal activities were carried out by cyber specialists of the SBU in the Lviv region in cooperation with investigators of the National Police under the procedural leadership of the Galician district prosecutor's office.^[3]

2021: TikTok has a function to combat fakes

TikTok has a function to combat fakes. This became known on February 3, 2021 from the words of the company's product manager Gina Hernandez. Read more here.

2020

Facebook: French and Russian trolls fight for influence in Africa

The social network announced the identification and blocking of two "troll factories" at once - Russian and French, which tried to influence the elections in the Central African Republic. Facebook said it first found foreign influence operations conducted directly on its platforms, with fake accounts declaring each other "fake news"^[4].

It also became known that Russian trolls were coordinated by a company associated with businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. French - people with ties to the defense department. France

In addition, Russian accounts were active in Madagascar, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique; French - in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Chad. Separately, Facebook reported on the discovery of another Russian account network that independently operated in North African countries

Yandex.Zen has begun testing a fake verification program

On September 2, 2020, it became known that the VK: Zen (formerly Yandex.Zen) platform is testing a program to verify inaccurate information posted on the service. For this, Zen will attract partners - the editors of TASS news agencies The Russian Information Agency, Interfax and The Bell. The latter will even hire additional employees to cooperate. The Higher School of Economics will also become a partner. Read more here.

Rospechat wants to create a service for recognizing fake news

A data service based on artificial intelligence, which will check the news for reliability, proposes to create Rospechat. This was announced on August 4, 2020 by RBC with reference to a letter from the deputy head of Rospechat Ilya Lazarev sent to the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, where they confirmed the receipt of the document. Read more here.

The Federation Council Commission on Information Policy held a meeting on the topic "Fake news in the coronavirus world. The need to counter "

On July 23, an open meeting of the Federation Council Commission on Information Policy and Media Relations on the topic "Fake News in the Coronavirus World" was held at the press center of the Rossiya Segodnya MIA. The need to counter. "

The meeting was attended by senators: Chairman of the Interim Commission of the Federation Council on Information Policy and Interaction with the Media Alexei Pushkov, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Alexander Bashkin and member of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Olga Kovitidi, as well as Veronika Krasheninnikova, advisor to the general director of the Rossiya Segodnya MIA.

The meeting participants noted that in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, the information war against the Russian Federation continues, and one of its most dangerous tools is fakes - the dissemination of deliberately false information, which, as Senator A. Bashkin noted, becomes the property of a large number of people and pursues specific political goals.

As a rule, fakes do not pretend to replace reality for the long term: their goal is to influence specific events here and now. The fake about "weapons of mass destruction in Iraq" became the reason for the US military invasion of this country in 2003, the fake about the "genocide of the Libyan people" - the pretext for the overthrow and murder of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Chairman of the Interim Commission of the Federation Council on Information Policy and Interaction with the Media A. Pushkov stressed that it is impossible to underestimate the danger of fakes: massive information stuffing has repeatedly become the last phase before the start of open hostilities. He highlighted the main fake news groups about Russia, which determined the media landscape of Western countries in 2020 and which require opposition. These include:

1. "Interference" of the Russian Federation in the US elections

Democrats will continue to play the card of "interference" of the Russian Federation in the presidential elections in the United States now in 2020.

"Biden has already voiced the threat of sanctions against Russia if Moscow interferes in the US elections. There is no evidence that we are going to do this, but it doesn't matter anymore. Democrats will play that card further. Moreover, it is absolutely unclear why, according to their statements, we will intervene on the side of Trump, who adopted anti-Russian sanctions much more than his predecessor, "Pushkov said.

2. "Interference" of the Russian Federation in the affairs of Great Britain

The same policy will continue in Europe, the senator noted, recalling the newly released unproven report of the British parliament on Russian interference in Brexit.

"No facts. Mountain gave birth to a mouse. Even Prime Minister Johnson said there was no intervention, but it doesn't matter to them. The report aims to maintain anti-Russian paranoia and creates a false but active information agenda. Of course, it will soon be forgotten, like the report of Special Prosecutor Muller, but in the short term it is important to maintain a powerful anti-Russian background, "Pushkov said.

3. Attempts to hold the USSR responsible for World War II

Through the efforts of the Baltic states and Poland, the rewriting of history and attempts to make the USSR responsible for the Second World War will continue.

"These countries will continue to question the decisive role of the USSR in defeating fascist Germany. Polish and Baltic politicians, with active or tacit support from leading Western countries, will continue to try to blame the USSR for World War II and will constantly emphasize the priority role of the United States and Great Britain in this victory, "A. Pushkov stated.

Meanwhile, as Senator V. Dzhabarov noted, the United States and Great Britain de facto entered the war against Germany only in 1944 and could not defeat Hitler's 10 million army without the USSR.

4. Russia is the "culprit" of regional conflicts

Another area of ​ ​ the information war against our country are accusations of allegedly harmful activities of Russia in regional conflicts. An example of this is the recent high-profile fake that Moscow allegedly sponsors the Taliban in order to destroy American soldiers.

"Recently, information was circulated that Russia allegedly funds the Taliban to kill American soldiers. This misinformation was spread by The New York Times. It was refuted by both intelligence and the US president. Soon it was denied even by the Taliban. Nevertheless, this fake is actively used in the campaign against Trump, who is accused of inaction against Russia, "Pushkov said.

In this regard, Senator O. Kovitidi emphasized the need to increase the effectiveness of state policy to counter fake aggression and, in particular, improve the Law on Media in accordance with the new information reality.

5. Russia "rigging" statistics on COVID-19

The pandemic gave rise to another direction in the information war against Russia: now we are accused of unreliability of statistics.

"In the West, they are perplexed why the Russian Federation is better at coping with a pandemic than the United States or Britain. This fact is difficult for them to accept, and they do not want to study their bad experience. It is much easier to accuse the Russian Federation of falsifying statistics, "Pushkov stressed.

6. Attacks on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation

In May-June, an information attack was launched on amendments to the country's basic law, based, in particular, on the conclusion of the Venice Commission, which called on Russia to abandon the amendment to Article 79 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. In the fall, the intensity of the information campaign against the amendments may increase, especially within the PACE and OSCE. The PACE Monitoring Committee has already asked the Venice Commission to assess not only the amendments to Article 79, but also all the adopted amendments as a whole.

At the meeting, it was also emphasized that some Western countries switched to the tactics of closing the Russian media - contrary to their international obligations and the principles of media freedom.

"Lithuania and Latvia in late June-early July, under an absolutely far-fetched pretext, closed the RT channel, motivating this with personal sanctions against Dmitry Kiselev, who does not head RT. Our commission has already asked the Russian Foreign Ministry to study possible retaliatory sanctions, "Pushkov stressed.

In this regard, the meeting participants recognized the need for advanced information activities in order to neutralize fakes, as well as intensify information activity in countries of the non-Western world.

Members of the Commission intend to initiate discussions in PACE and OSCE on the illegal practice of banning RT activities and political censorship in the Baltic countries.

They also called on domestic media to recheck the information circulating in foreign media and social networks: its critical comprehension should become an effective tool in the fight against fakes both in coronavirus time and after it.

How factchecking works on Facebook

RT Deutsch published a post - just a video of how a hospital is being built for patients with coronavirus in Ufa.

The very next day, Facebook marked the post as fake. First, he noted with the official fact checker Fatabyyano - it is used for materials from the Middle East and North Africa, and not in Germany. Secondly, in the form of "evidence" the social network presented a link that led to an article about fakes regarding Emmanuel Macron.

To requests from RT Deutsch, the moderator of the social network replied that it was a "technical error" (in the screenshot)

Coincidence or not, the incident occurred after RT Deutsch announced that in March it became the fifth on Facebook among German-speaking media in terms of video views. After "factchecking," traffic naturally fell.

Facebook will mark state-sponsored media with special labeling

Facebook will now mark state-sponsored media with special labeling, Politico writes in June 2020. To be more precise, the "label of distrust" will be hung on Russia Today, Sputnik, the Chinese edition of Xinhua News and other "inconvenient" broadcasts. Government-funded Western publications, such as the BBC, are declared independent and will not be blacklisted.^[5]

US will help residents of Kazakhstan recognize "fake" news

On May 13, 2020, it became known that the US State Department intends to allocate up to $60 thousand for holding open online courses on "media literacy" for residents of Kazakhstan.

The goal of the American program is to "provide citizens of Kazakhstan with the tools necessary to gain access to all types of media resources of the 21st century."

As noted in the document, listeners will learn "how to distinguish real news from fake news." In addition, they will be taught how to handle traditional and social media.

Non-governmental and non-profit organizations established in the United States or Kazakhstan, as well as educational institutions with the necessary experience, have the right to apply for participation in the competition.

The applicant who wins the tender for the implementation of the program will have to take part in the selection of teachers. In addition, his duties will include maintaining a database of graduates, developing a curriculum, as well as "posting information about activities in a common Facebook group."

Earlier it was reported about the intention of the United States to assist Moldova in the implementation of a program aimed at "increasing the level of media literacy" of the country's residents.

The goal of the project was to "develop critical thinking skills" of Moldovans in relation to the ^[6] media^[7].

Google has allocated $6.5 million to fight coronavirus fakes

The Covid-19 pandemic is accompanied by a large amount of unreliable or openly misinforming news that prevents people from making an adequate impression of what is happening. Google decided to fight this by allocating $6.5 million to fight Google^[8] to ^[9].

The money will be used to finance scientific and non-profit organizations fighting disinformation around the world - primarily those that pay attention to the situation with the pandemic. Also, as part of its initiative, Google is going to train journalists to recognize untrue information in the field. health care

Among the organizations supported by Google, separately mentioned are communities that check the facts about the coronavirus in the countries most affected by it. These are Full Fact, Maldita and Correctiv, which cover in detail the spread of Covid-19 in Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Spain and France.

Some of the 6.5 million mentioned will go towards funding the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Australian Science Media Centre. These organizations are engaged in developing tools that will make it easier for journalists to access expert sources and verified information during public health crises. Financial support will also be strengthened for the First Draft News project, which specializes in combating inaccurate and erroneous information.

In addition, Google continues to work on aspects of the search engine output that relate to Covid-19. In particular, the company is working on a special page to check the facts about the coronavirus. It is planned to be part of Google news services.

Criminal liability threatens to spread false information about coronavirus in the Russian Federation

In March 2020 Investigative Committee of Russia , he threatened distributors fakes about coronavirus with a fine of up to 3 million. rubles The department began checking for the appearance of inaccurate information about the number of cases in. COVID-19 Russia

Many residents of Russia in messengers received a warning message that total montioring of social networks and all messengers is being established in Russia: "From Monday, March 23, fines coronavirus of up to 20 minimum wages will be charged for distribution to watsap, telegrams, Instagram and other social networks about, including jokes, pictures with jokes, or arrest up to 15 days.

Be careful not to send unnecessary messages or information contrary to laws and morals. Avoid talking to your friends and family about sensitive information. Tell your children and be very careful! Anything you write or say can be used against you, even any joke!. "

Main article: Coronavirus COVID-19 in Russia

2019

Damage to the global economy of $78 billion annually

In mid-December 2019, the Israeli firm CHEQ for cyber security and the University of Baltimore published the results of an economic study, according to which deliberately false online news costs global economy $78 billion a year.

The report analyzes the direct economic costs caused by unreliable online materials, as well as the costs that companies and governments have to go to counteract disinformation. Fake or knowingly false news is called "the deliberate fabrication and dissemination of false information that should deceive the audience and mislead it either to cause harm or to obtain political, personal or financial benefits."

The University of Baltimore published the results of an economic study, according to which deliberately false online news costs the global economy $78 billion a year

The study showed that fake news on the Internet led to a loss of $39 billion a year due to a fall in the value of market shares. Other loss items include economic losses due to health care misinformation ($9 billion), financial disinformation ($17 billion), reputation disruption ($9 billion) and platform security efforts ($3 billion).

According to the study, at least $400 million is spent annually on fabricating materials as part of political races. A Princeton study of fake news during the 2016 campaign USA found that by its end, fake articles accounted for 2.6% of all material. It is assumed that advertising and distribution of deliberately false news in the upcoming presidential elections in the United States in 2020 will take at least $200 million.

This data only highlights the immediate economic damage of misinformation. In reality, losses can be significantly higher if indirect economic costs are taken into account. These include loss of trust in major institutions, slower innovation, reputation damage and data protection costs, the researchers note.^[10]

Roskomnadzor published a list of resources that disseminate fake information

In December 2019, a test version of the list of "information resources that repeatedly disseminate inaccurate information" appeared on the Roskomnadzor website. The agency emphasizes that this list of inaccurate information was compiled on the basis of decisions of the Prosecutor General's Office, and Roskomnadzor itself, together with the Union of Journalists of Russia, only maintains its^[11].

The list, which can be seen below, includes information sources that were mentioned two or more times in the requirements of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation sent to Roskomnadzor in order to comply with the provisions of Art. 15.3 of Federal Law No. 149-FZ "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" (in terms of the dissemination of inaccurate socially significant information).

An open register of fake news and its authors will appear in Russia

An open register of unreliable news will appear in Russia, which will also indicate the authors of fakes. This was stated at the media forum of the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF) "Truth and Justice" in Sochi by the head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) Alexander Zharov, RBC correspondent reports^[12] of ^[13]

"The register will be public, everything will be posted on our website - both the names of the sites and the names of the authors, respectively," Zharov said.

The State Duma raised the fine for posting inaccurate information on the Internet

On March 6, 2019, it became known that the State Duma adopted in the second reading a package of bills prohibiting the dissemination of inaccurate information on the Internet and insulting the authorities. The documents were developed by Senators Lyudmila Bokova and Andrei Klishas and submitted to parliament at the end of 2018.

We are talking about four bills. Two of them are amendments to the Law "On Information, Information Technology and" and information protection imply blocking access to the above types of prohibited information. The other two are amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO), introducing fines for disseminating this kind of information.

In the second reading, all bills were amended. Thus, the bill banning inaccurate information refers to blocking access to "unreliable socially significant information disseminated under the guise of reliable messages, which creates the threat of harm to the life and health of citizens, property, the threat of mass violation of public order and public safety, or the threat of creating the functioning or termination of life support facilities, transport or social infrastructure, credit organizations, power facilities, industry or communications."

The wording that was in the bill after the first reading did not say about credit organizations, power facilities, industry and communications. The Prosecutor General's Office will be engaged in blocking such messages. Blocking will be carried out immediately, and the site owner will receive a notification from Roskomnadzor only after blocking.

In the second reading, a separate rule was added on the dissemination of inaccurate information by online media (media) registered in Roskomnadzor. According to the statements of the Prosecutor General's Office, Roskomnadzor will deal with the removal of this kind of information from these sites.

Notification of the removal of inaccurate information will come from Roskomnadzor to the editorial office of the online publication, which will have to fulfill the corresponding requirement immediately. In case of refusal to fulfill the requirements, Roskomandzor will immediately have to block access to the website of the relevant media.

The revision of the amendments to the Administrative Code regarding fines for disseminating inaccurate information has also changed. In the second reading, the amount of fines for individuals increased. For citizens, it will be from 30 thousand rubles. up to 100 thousand rubles, for officials - from 60 thousand rubles. up to 200 thousand rubles. Thus, the size of the minimum fine for citizens increased 10 times. And for organizations, the amount of fines was reduced and it will be from 200 thousand rubles. up to 500 thousand rubles. The rule on confiscation of the subject of an administrative offense from organizations remained, but only as an option.

These fines will be applied if information is disseminated that poses a threat to the situations described in the bill. If the dissemination of deliberately false information entailed the creation of dangerous situations described in the bill, then the fines will be higher.

For citizens, the amount of the fine will be from 100 thousand rubles. up to 300 thousand rubles. with the possibility of confiscating the subject of an administrative offense, for officials - from 300 thousand rubles. up to 600 thousand rubles, for legal entities - from 500 thousand rubles. up to 1 million rubles. with possible confiscation of the subject of violation. Similar fines will be applied in case of repeated violation of the ban on the dissemination of deliberately false information that poses a threat of creating dangerous situations.

If the dissemination of deliberately false information caused the death of a person, the amount of the fine for citizens will be from 300 thousand rubles. up to 400 thousand rubles. with possible confiscation of the subject of an administrative offense, for officials - from 600 thousand rubles. up to 900 thousand rubles, for legal entities - from 1 million rubles. up to 1.5 million rubles. also with the possible confiscation of the subject of an administrative offense. The Prosecutor General's Office should be informed about all cases of such cases within 24 hours.

In the bill on blocking access to information expressing "obvious disrespect for society, the state, official state symbols of the Russian Federation, the Constitution of the Russian Federation or bodies exercising state power of the Russian Federation," this wording was expanded by banning information "that offends human dignity and public morality."

The Prosecutor General's Office will look for this kind of information and send it to Roskomnadzor. The version of the bill adopted in the first reading said that Roskomnadzor would immediately block access to such sites, after which their owners and hosting-providers will receive appropriate notifications.

The version of the bill adopted in the second reading says that Roskomnadzor will first notify the hosting provider that the site it serves has prohibited information. The hosting provider must transmit this notification to the site owner within 24 hours, who must immediately delete the prohibited information. Otherwise, Roskomnadzor will block access to the corresponding site.

Amendments to the Administrative Code, adopted in the first reading, envisaged punishment for insulting the authorities on the Internet in the form of a fine in the amount of 1 thousand rubles. up to 5 thousand rubles. or administrative arrest for up to 15 days. In the amended version of the bill, the amount of the fine will be significantly higher: from 100 thousand rubles. up to 200 thousand rubles. The possibility of administrative arrest for up to 15 days is also preserved. That is, the size of the minimum fine has grown 100 times.

In case of repeated violation, the amount of the fine will be from 200 thousand rubles. up to 300 thousand rubles. or the punishment will be the same administrative arrest for up to 15 days. The bodies of the Prosecutor General's Office must be notified of all cases of this kind within 24 hours.^[14]

The bill on the fight against fake news passed the first reading in the State Duma

On January 24, the State Duma adopted bills in the first reading, one of which establishes the procedure for blocking unreliable and distorting facts (fake) news, and the second - fights against insulting society and state symbols of the Russian Federation, the Russian News Agency reports TASS. They were submitted for discussion by senators Lyudmila Bokova, Andrei Klishas and deputy Dmitry Vyatkin^[15].

The first bill is directed against the publication in the media and the Internet of "unreliable socially significant information disseminated under the guise of reliable messages, which poses a threat to the life and health of citizens, mass violation of public order and public safety, termination of the functioning of life support facilities, transport or social infrastructure, the onset of other grave consequences."

The focus of the second is on materials "expressing in an indecent form a clear disrespect for society, the state, the official state symbols of the Russian Federation, the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the bodies exercising state power in the Russian Federation."

The bills involve various retaliatory measures by authorized bodies: blockages, fines, and in the case of the second bill, administrative arrest. TASS describes in detail how to deal with violations and violators.

Thus, if inappropriate materials are found in the network, the Prosecutor General or his deputies should contact. Roskomnadzor Based on their request, the regulator "immediately sends a request to telecom operators to take measures to restrict access" to the specified site. The agency will determine the hosting provider of the resource and send him a notice of violation of the procedure for disseminating information, as well as the requirement to remove it.

The law will oblige the operator to block the corresponding site within 24 hours and notify its owner of the need to remove information that violates the law. If the owner fulfills the requirements, this will have to be checked by Roskomnadzor, which will then instruct the telecom operator to restore access to the site.

The fines are as follows (they are supposed to be established by amending Article 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation ("Abuse of freedom of the media"): citizens will pay 3-5 thousand rubles for the dissemination of false socially important information, officials - 30-50 thousand, legal entities - from 400 thousand to 1 million rubles.

The dissemination of offensive information also involves fines of up to 1 million rubles. In addition, administrative arrest for up to 15 days is possible. The authors of the initiative consider the provided sanctions soft.

2018

ROCIT: Digital Literacy Index

According to the Digital Literacy Index 2017 study, about 30% of users blindly believe everything they write on the Internet. ROCIT - The Regional Community Center for Internet Technology answers a pressing question: 'What information on the network can be trusted?'.

Due to the low level of media literacy of citizens and the high speed of distribution of news on the Internet, ROCIT encourages users to be vigilant and learn to distinguish truthful news from fake.

What is fake news? This is news, inside of which is unconfirmed, unverified or knowingly false information. Fakes mislead a person, make them doubt their own knowledge. In this state, you can believe in any facts, which are used by unscrupulous authors.

It is quite simple to distinguish fake news from real news. They usually have 'screaming', even panic headlines. Authors of such news are much more willing to share their point of view on events than describe real facts.

The surge in fake news is associated with the appearance on social networks of tools for writing, decorating and publishing news and notes by any user. This month, fictitious information was widely circulated on the Internet that a Cherkasy schoolboy won a non-existent 'meme Olympiad', in which 100,500 participants from 9,000 countries participated. A record of this was reposted about 18,000 times in 3 days, and the author said that people sincerely congratulated him and offered to translate bitcoins in honor of the victory.

In addition to social media, fake news is distributed in blogs, newspapers, "yellow" online media, instant messengers (through bots or anonymous channels), video hosting and others both online and offline. Sources of fakes usually have high attendance, and their audience unconditionally believes the authors of the notes. Websites are teeming with banners of dubious content that translate users to the pages of information partners, where the truth is no more than a byte.

The main principle of the success of fake news is the phenomenon of post-truth. What does it mean?

• Firstly, people do not really like to understand what is reality and what is fiction. A person, even if he feels doubt, may be too lazy to check the information read.

• Secondly, fakes are aimed at the emotions of the reader, at his personal beliefs. People tend to believe what they want to believe, what doesn't contradict their views and seems truthful.

Agree, it is not very pleasant to be deceived. It will be doubly unpleasant when, your friends will raise you to laughter if you share fake news with them. If you want to be sure of the veracity of the information that you get from social media and the media, you need to learn not to believe in everything that is written there.

If you see a loud headline that screams, 'Quickly press me and read!', be wary. When reading a news article or note, answer the question: 'In front of me are the facts or someone's point of view?'. Only the facts are true. Check the sources of information, follow the links to the original articles. Don't be afraid of a foreign language text - it's easier to spend 10 minutes of your life translating and reconciling facts than to be fools. In no way let the news affect your emotions or feelings, always stay calm and soberly evaluate everything you read.

The main tip is to filter information. Select multiple news publications you trust and only read them. It is better even to subscribe to a short newsletter or channels of authoritative media in Telegram so as not to waste time opening and viewing different sites.

Adam and Eve were banished from paradise over fake news. Explains the Pope

Pope Francis published in January 2018 a message on the problem of "fake news" timed to coincide with World Social Communications Day. The pontiff said that the first distributor of "fake news" was a snake from the Book of Genesis, quoted in his message the elder Zosima from "The Brothers Karamazov" and said that journalism in the modern world is not work, but the mission^[16][17].

would like to ask everyone to call for peace journalism. By this I do not mean journalism that refuses to acknowledge the existence of serious problems or looks at sentimentalism... On the contrary, I mean honest journalism that opposes lies, rhetorical slogans and sensational headlines. "

The Serpent of Genesis was the first to spread the "fake news." With her began the story of the fall of people. The serpent addressed Eve with words that were only partly true: "And the serpent said to his wife, Did God truly say," Do not eat from any tree in paradise '? " In fact, God forbade eating fruit from only one tree in the garden of paradise. Eve corrected the snake, but succumbed to its provocation: "And the wife said to the snake: We can eat the fruits from the trees, only the fruits of the tree, which among the paradise, God said, do not eat them and do not touch them so that you do not die." Eve let the trickster mislead herself. "And he said to the serpent to his wife: no, he will not die, but God knows that in the day in which you taste them, your eyes will open, and you will be like gods who know good and evil." God's order was violated by the temptation into which Eve was introduced by the enemy: "And the wife saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes and coveted, because it provided knowledge; and she took his fruit and ate it. and she also gave her husband, and he ate. " This Bible episode proves that there is no harmless lie, on the contrary, even a slight distortion of the truth leads to terrible consequences

2017

Collins dictionary chose 'fake news' as word of the year

The compilers of the sensible English dictionary Collins English Dictionary declared the word of 2017 the phrase "fake news" ("fake news")^[18]

"They are ridiculed by the leader of the free world and accused of influencing the elections, but today" fake news "has become real news, as they are declared the word of the year according to Collins," the dictionary's website says.

Collins defines "fake news" as "false, often sensational information spread under the guise of news reports."

Since 2016, Collins points out, the use of the phrase "fake news" has grown in the world media by 365%.

2016, the word of the year, according to Collins, was "Brexit" - Britain's exit from the European Union.

Facebook has declared war on Russia's "troll factory." Top numbers

Facebook on September 6 announced that as part of an investigation into the possible use of its platform to influence US elections, the social network had identified hundreds of fake accounts managed from Russia through what it called a "troll factory." The Facebook administration removed up to 80 percent of groups affiliated with the Internet Research Agency, known as the "troll factory." A source close to the leadership of the organization^[19] about this^{[20][21][22][23]}.

According to him, 25 groups were closed on Facebook, which had a total of three million subscribers, on Instagram - 32 groups with two million subscribers. 50 accounts were blocked on Twitter, to which 600 thousand people were subscribed.

• 470 fake accounts launched from Russia
• they bought 3,000 paid ads for 100,000 dollars
• 25 Facebook publics, 32 Instagram accounts and 50 on Twitter are blocked
• their total audience exceeded 5 million subscribers

In terms of content, most ads did not directly relate to elections, but contained provocative messages on socio-political topics, including LGBT, race relations, immigration and the right to arms.

In addition, Facebook counted 2,200 advertisements worth about 50 thousand dollars, potentially related to politics and having at least some communication Russia kind of (for example, they were posted American by a Russian-language account operating through IP^[24]

Facebook refrained from assessing the published results. The agency Reuters notes that in general, the headquarters of the candidates spent more than a billion dollars on advertising on the Internet^[25]

Germany to fine Facebook and YouTube for €50m fake news

The German government will fine Facebook, YouTube and other social media up to € 50 million if they do not remove "apparently illegal" material within 24 hours following complaints. Such materials mean fake news, hate publications^[26].

In addition, companies will have to remove materials whose illegal nature is not so obvious, but in this case 7 days are allotted for the proceedings. The rule applies to sites whose audience exceeds 2 million users. It is one of the toughest laws of its kind in the world, the BBC reports. Fines start at 5 million euros, but, depending on the severity of the situation, can increase 10 times.

The German parliament has already approved the law at the beginning of 2017 during the voting, but it will enter into force only in October 2017, after the federal elections scheduled for September 2017.

The new rule has already been criticized by human rights groups and industry representatives who consider it difficult to implement. Opponents of the law are confident that due to the tight deadlines set aside for evaluating materials, companies will begin to delete any at least any dubious publications, just not to pay a fine.

Wikipedia creator launches project to combat fake news

Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales's website, WikiTribune, has its main goal in exposing fake news on the Internet. Wales himself argues that journalism should be based on indisputable facts, and not on speculation or yellow headlines in order to increase the readership^[27]

The international news portal will regularly publish articles by professional journalists, who will then be checked for veracity by numerous volunteers from different countries. This will make the work of the media as transparent as possible and identify the most reliable sources of information, as well as expose those who abuse the trust of their readers. The service is completely free and devoid of built-in advertising. Like Wikipedia, the site is planned to be maintained through voluntary donations from its users.

Cyber ​ ​ crime has joined the business of "fake" news

In June 2017, Trend Micro published a study indicating that the spread of fake (fake) news has become a service that cybercriminals willingly provide. A whole market has taken shape, where there are more or less standard prices for the implementation of information manipulation campaigns.^[28]

The cyber-criminal underground, according to Trend Micro, is very willing to produce, advertise and monetize fake news content.

It's not just about one-off publications. As a "package of services," entire campaigns are offered to manipulate public opinion, aimed at achieving very specific goals. For example, it costs $200 thousand to provide an information campaign to initiate street protests.

Cyber ​ ​ criminal underground, according to Trend Micro, is very willing to produce, advertise and monetize fake news content

Discrediting an overly astute journalist will cost $55 thousand. Making a fake celebrity "out of nothing" with 300,000 followers on social media costs $2,600. The most expensive will be the annual campaign aimed at manipulating the results of political elections - $400 thousand.

It is not known whether persons offering such services are actually able to provide them in the declared volume. The fact that disinformation and black PR are always actively used in the political struggle, and social networks and other media resources today provide easier to use and more effective tools for promoting fake content than ever before. So in the assumption that a certain part of cyber crime really offers such services, there is nothing fantastic.

2016 is often referred to in the US as the "year of fake news," and that's when the definition of fake news came into being. Governments and political parties around the world have actively accused each other of using false information campaigns for political purposes. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has indeed become one of the key targets of the fake news bombing during the 2017 election race. In turn, US President Donald Trump tends to call "fake" any news with which he does not agree.

Russian state media is also often the target of accusations of deviating from the standards of journalistic work towards propaganda and disinformation. The key difference between "fake news" as today's phenomenon is the emphasis on the use of technical means and features of social networks.

The 77-page Trend Micro study examines all stages of launching such a campaign: from studying the target audience and preparing an "information land mine" - the fake news itself, to spreading it, especially through social networks, as well as trying to support the narrative with additional propaganda.

The process as a whole includes the creation of fake accounts and groups on social services, the promotion of fake content through likes and shares, the formation of fake but convincing-looking news sites, "social journalism platforms ," etc. For an additional fee, the campaign initiator can immediately get at his disposal a whole lot of such news sites with cross-links to each other in order to additionally "launder" fake content.

There are specific differences between different regions: services offered in the markets of "underground content" in, in China, in Russia the Middle East and in English-speaking countries can differ significantly between themselves. For example, the study indicates that a fake advertisement in China will cost only a hundred yuan (less than $20), while in Russia for 35 thousand rubles they offer to post any video on the main page for YouTube two minutes, for 45 thousand rubles - to send a fake press release on news resources. 100 comments for videos on Youtube cost 150 rubles, 100 dislikes under it - only 100 rubles.

The authors of the Trend Micro study indicate that consumers of news content can escape from fakes if they make it hard to double-check suspicious information in large traditional media, begin to study the identities of the authors and will read the material further than the title and lead.

We hope that by understanding the methods of manipulating opinions, the public will be able to develop resistance to them, the authors write.[29]

The use of social media to intensively spread misinformation and political or commercial propaganda is a given. The fact that cybercriminals have joined this is an interesting turn, but quite natural, - said Dmitry Gvozdev, general director of the Security Monitor company. - It cannot, however, be ruled out that the offer of the described services in itself may also be part of some kind of disinformation campaign: it represents an almost ideal basis for conspiracy speculation. Unfortunately, it will take a long time before any significant part of society around the world develops the skill of self-verification of the information received.

Russian Foreign Ministry: Facebook encourages the spread of disinformation

questions for Facebook's leadership about the lack of blocking fake pages of Russian diplomatic missions abroad. This was stated at a briefing by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Foreign Ministry Zakharova of the ^[30] Ministry: ^[31].

"On April 27, 2017, Facebook released a report on operations on this social network initiated by various non-governmental players in order to manipulate public opinion," the diplomat said. "In the arsenal of attackers who have settled on Facebook, the spread through the so-called fake accounts of fabricated news and disinformation, spam, malicious materials." "We welcome the decision of Facebook Corporation to draw the attention of the world community to the risks of using social networks and especially to the problem of misleading information campaigns, which we have repeatedly talked about," she stressed.

According to her, Russia is regularly subjected to perverse information attacks on social networks. "Despite our numerous appeals, Facebook has not blocked the fake accounts of the Russian embassies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia," the diplomat said. "In addition, recently we have identified similar false pages at the embassy in Sweden, which are used to deceive users of this social network."

"In fact, with its inaction, Facebook encourages the spread of disinformation," Zakharova emphasized. - At the same time, we are grateful to this company for the operational steps to unblock the pages of Russian foreign agencies that have been adopted. But, frankly, it's occupational health. I would like more in order to prevent further popularization of "fakes."

Facebook published instructions on identifying fake news on the Internet in British newspapers

Facebook has advertised in several major British newspapers to identify false news. The instructions, which appeared on the pages of The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Times, say that you need to carefully check the source of publications, be skeptical of defiant headlines and check the dates^[32] materials^[33].

The complete list of tips for identifying fake news looks like this:

• Treat headlines with skepticism;
• Look closely at the URL;
• Look for the original source;
• Pay attention to unusual formatting;
• Note the photos;
• Check the dates;
• Check the evidence;
• Look for other related posts;
• Isn't the story a joke?
• Some fake notes are conscious satire.

Facebook is not mentioned in the councils, but the social network logo is posted on the material. Facebook has previously posted similar advice repeatedly in online media.

See also

Fake (fake) reviews and comments

Notes