On behalf of the organizing team it is our great pleasure to invite you to participate in the upcoming Regional symposium titled: “SOCIAL MEDIA, FAKE NEWS AND CYBERSECURITY” The regional COMPACT symposium is taking place at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Library Building, 2nd Floor, Room Exposições) in Lisbon, on 20.02.2020 Program:
On behalf of the organizing team it is our great pleasure to invite you to participate in the upcoming Regional symposium titled: “Disinformation in EU elections: The role of social media & technology trends” The regional COMPACT symposium is taking place at the Permanent Representation of the Slovak Republic to the EU, in Brussels (Avenue…
The 5th Congress of the Polish Communication Association, entitled “Media Power: People – Organisations – Technologies” – Discussion on the notion of media power, from the internal (organizational) and external (media ecology) perspective 19 – 21 September 2019 at Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland COMPACT will hold two sessions. Program
Budapest Symposium “The intermediaries and their liability: If there is a quick, easy and permanent solution, please tell us as soon as possible.” The regional COMPACT symposium is taking place in Budapest, Hungary on 11 September 2019 at Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Law. The purpose of the event is to bring together policy-makers, academics,…
Dr. Bissera Zankova, Media 21 Foundation Dr. Valeriy Dimitrov, professor at the Legal Faculty of the University of National and World Economy, Sofia Introduction The issue of how to regulate social media platforms, including social networks, is gaining momentum among stakeholders. It is not an exaggeration to state that sometimes the arguments in favour of…
Further to the public outcry over information disorder and hate speech online, the social media networks are increasingly under the scrutiny of governments and regulators in many countries in Europe. In France, several initiatives aim to make the big social media players more accountable, forcing them to adopt clear, effective and transparent mechanisms, under the…
Dr. Bissera Zankova, Media 21 Foundation, Bulgaria On 10 June 2019, the UN High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation released a new tech report on the prospects of our digital future. Back in 2018, the UN Secretary-General appointed the Panel with a mission to tackle the question of “digital cooperation” – how we work together…
Conference on media security, held in Sofia, Bulgaria Nowadays, the topic of debates is no longer whether or not society should digitize – we have already immersed in digital reality. Companies know they must digitize in order to compete, organizations realize that the Internet is the foundation of modern culture and education, and the public…
Dr. Bissera Zankova, Media 21 Foundation, Bulgaria Created in 2008 by several organisations, government representatives and experts, the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) has gained significant popularity on a European and global scale. EuroDEG aims to present, as open multi-stakeholder platform, an exchange of views about the Internet and its governance for fostering dialogue…
Dr. Bissera Zankova, Media 21 Foundation, Bulgaria The AVMSD set a difficult task for the European governments to find appropriate paths to transpose its provisions into domestic legislation strengthening human rights values in the new convergent media environment. In response to this in March 2019, the Irish government launched a public consultation to inform the…
Dr. Bissera Zankova, Media 21 Foundation 1. General observations The primary objective of standardisation is to define voluntary, technical or quality specifications with which current or future products, production processes or services may comply (REGULATION (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on European Standardisation). Standardization is…
On behalf of the organizing team it is our great pleasure to invite you to participate in the upcoming Regional symposium on social media regulation titled: “Do we need to regulate social media? Rationales for and viability of regulation of online platforms and social media“ The regional COMPACT seminar is taking place in Ljubljana on…
Standardization issues in the new technological environment are of increasing relevance for Europe. “Media 21” Foundation presents excerpts from the latest European documents compiled by the information society expert dipl.eng Anelia Dimova, Bulgaria. The process of European Standardisation The objective that European standardisation pursues is to agree on a set of common specifications and/or procedures…
“I think that the opinions of people who are already part of an anti-spy lobby simply can not be changed, but we have to do a lot to ensure that people searching for vaccine information come up with professional and real data, rather than having an impact on their opinion false information, “says epidemiologist Thomas…
Amy Webb, futurist, NYU professor, and award-winning creator, has spent a lot of the final decade researching, discussing, and assembly with folks and organizations about synthetic intelligence. “We’ve reached a fever pitch in all issues AI,” she says. Now it’s time to step again to see the place it’s going. That is the duty of…
Director General of DG Connect at the EC, Roberto Viola, gave speech to the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and EducationI explaining what the EU is doing in response to the threats posed by disinformation and fake news, especially in the context of the forthcoming European elections. The internet has not only increased the volume…
Election cybersecurity: challenges and opportunities This paper presents ENISA’s opinion on the cybersecurity of elections and provides concrete and forward-looking recommendations to improve the cybersecurity of electoral processes in the EU. Recommendations Digital Service Providers, social media, online platforms, and messaging service providers are advised to deploy technology that will identify unusual traffic patterns that…
Commissioners demand hard numbers from firm ahead of European parliament elections Facebook has repeatedly withheld key data on its alleged efforts to clamp down on disinformation ahead of the European elections. Mark Zuckerberg’s company has been under fire from the European commission for failing to provide it with the “hard numbers” to prove that it…
The harvesting of our personal details goes far beyond what many of us could imagine. So I braced myself and had a lookFive things we learned from Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook hearing Google knows where you’ve been Google stores your location (if you have location tracking turned on) every time you turn on your phone. You…
Facebook ‘directed massive lobbying campaign at politicians around the world and called Irish PM a ‘great friend’ in battle against new data privacy laws’ Facebook executives met with policy makers in Davos, Switzerland, in 2014 Documents reveal they tried to influence Canada, Brazil and all 28 EU states Facebook said they had ‘great relationship’…
Dr. Bissera Zankova Media 21 Foundation, Bulgaria As the preparation of the new EU copyright directive is in full swing discussions about its ramifications are widespread and related to every aspect of Internet communication. The rules that will come into force will oblige online companies such as Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc to share…
Suspicion that Google pays Internet celebrities for pushing their agenda has existed for a long time. But German journalist Constantin van Lijnden discovered how the technology giant had found its way to youtubers. He explains this in his article “Purchased Protest?”. According to:Lijnden, several German Youtubers received a financial offer from the non-profit organization Create…
Dr. Bissera ZankovaMedia 21 Foundation, Bulgaria Beyond doubt the Facebook – Cambridge Analytica data scandal was one of the highlights of 2018. The theft of personal data of millions of people’s from their Facebook profiles without any knowledge and consent was considered a watershed moment in the public understanding of personal data usage by social…
Dr. Bissera ZankovaMedia 21 Foundation, Bulgaria When we consider contemporary means of communication we put the Internet at the centre of our focus. We could hardly imagine our life without the ubiquitous presence of the net. Back in 2007 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe stressed the public service value of the…
Dr. Bissera ZankovaMedia 21 Foundation, Bulgaria The study of the World Bank “Women, Business and the Law 2019:A Decade of Reform”, examines milestones in a woman’s working life, from starting a job through to getting a pension, as well as the legal protections implemented in each of these stages. The data covers a ten-year period…
Since 2016, at least 43 countries have proposed or implemented measures aimed at combating influence campaigns on social media. This is according to a study by the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence, whose authors note that new approaches to tackling disinformation are »flourishing« as online efforts to manipulate public opinion become an increasingly »pressing…
As it was reported by The Guardian, Tim Berners-Lee, English scientist and father of the Web, has launched a global campaign to save the web from the destructive effects of abuse and discrimination, political manipulation, and other threats that plague the online world. The »Contract for the web« outlines central principles that will be built…
As it was reported on MarketWatch article (25/10/2018) by Kari Paul, a recent study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the spreading of false information concluded that »false news stories are 70% more likely to be retweeted than true stories.« The study also stated that false stories »are also retweeted more widely than…
Representatives of online platforms, leading social networks, advertisers and advertising industry agreed on a self-regulatory Code of Practice to address the spread of online disinformation and fake news. This is the first time worldwide that industry agrees, on a voluntary basis, to self-regulatory standards to fight disinformation. The Code aims at achieving the objectives set…
A group of Oxford and Stanford researchers (Timothy Garton Ash, Robert Gorwa, and Danaë Metaxa) started with nine items, in their report released Thursday via Oxford and Stanford. The focus is on ways Facebook could improve itself as a »better forum for free speech and democracy.« Part of the report focuses on the amends Facebook…
»As it was reported in New York Times Magazine article (Jan. 16, 2019) by John Herrman: »How Secrecy Fuels Facebook Paranoia«, the social platform (Facebook, Instagram etc.) knows everything that happens within its walls, but it is oddly reticent when it comes to misinformation campaigns. They know far more about their advertising, labor and commerce…
Since the time of their inception media regulatory bodies have always faced big challenges. The latter pertain either to their status, structure and independence or to their competences and the effectiveness of the control they exercise over particular types of content. Nowadays media regulators have to cope with their own problems how to operate best…
Pavel Dvořák is a Slovak sinologist living and doing business in tourism in China. In theintroduction to his web blogs he says he has had a passion for that country since childhood. In his latest blog, Dvořák defends the newly built technology system assigning credits to Chinese citizens by the government. Some critics reproach the…
Tim Berners-Lee I’ve always believed the web is for everyone. That’s why I and others fight fiercely to protect it. The changes we’ve managed to bring have created a better and more connected world. But for all the good we’ve achieved, the web has evolved into an engine of inequity and division; swayed by powerful…
Andrej Školkay, Gergö Hajzer, Juraj Filin, Tomasz Anusziewicz, Ľubica Adamcová, Veronika Vighová, Igor Daniš The purpose of this study is meta-research on academic research on social media and convergence in four Central-Eastern European countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Sometimes, these countries are referred to as Visegrad Four or V-4. The selection of these…
Minutes from Adria Information Disorder AI Tools 2018 Workshop, held on June 29-30, 2018, in Koper, Slovenia. Andrej Školkay opened the meeting, welcoming and introducing the others physically present – John Boyd, Bence Ságvári and Francesco Adolfo Danza, (later arrived Peter Matzneller and Michal Hradický) and those online (Juraj Filin, Nikolau Stefanos, Bernie Bencoe, Boris…
In reaction to the Cambridge Analytica controversy, Facebook has recently announced a substantial tightening of access restrictions to the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) of Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms it owns. Other platform providers are likely to follow suit. The APIs are the means through which third parties access data on these platforms, such as…
The Council of Europe activities comprise a part of the WP1 study “Research agendas and roadmaps” and Media 21 Foundation (M21) was entitled to provide information about the output of the organization’s bodies for the period 2013 – up to 2018. The M21 was also asked to make conclusions how and to what extent the adopted recommendations, resolutions and decisions impact social media in a convergent era.
Social media platforms are increasingly accused of shaping public debate and engineering people’s behavior in ways that might undermine the democratic process. In order to vitalize a much-needed multistakeholder dialogue on corrective measures against the spread of false information, this project has undertaken a truncated multistakeholder consultation, addressing experts from academia, civil society, governments and the industry to assess diverging perspectives on institutional proposals, legislative responses, and self- regulation resolutions that have sprung up around the world. It also asks what new challenges platform moderation and related “fake news” issues pose to what might be called the “procedural fitness” of the current multistakeholder internet governance system. Finally, it suggests recommendations for architectural changes that could promote constructive and inclusive debate on the topic.
Cambridge Analytica, a Data Analysis Company used an application developed by Dr. Aleksander Kogan to gain access to the profile data of about 270,000 Facebook users. With the help of Amazon‘s Mechanical Turk, it took advantage of a platform where participants received a small amount of $ 1 to $ 2 for completing a poll. With this step, Cambridge Analytica had access to the personal data of up to 87 million facebook users. This vast amount of sensitive data was used by Cambridge Analytica to help shape the political profile of the OCEAN model. Modeal OCEAN is a well-known concept of personality psychology.
According to the original report, Facebook has released personal data to more than 50 million users, which is the largest data leak to date. Cambridge Analytica has gained access to the personal details of more than 50 million Facebook users, which could serve to influence the results of presidential troops in favour of Donald Trump.…
Facebook has been overwhelmed with the personal data scandal. But do we not ignore protection of our data too? Is Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal not a little hypocritical? Google, Apple, Amazon, or Microsoft essentially use the same methods.
There is no doubt that it is unacceptable for organizations to track people in an illegal way and use the information they have acquired for their own benefit or sell it to third parties. It is totally irrelevant whether this information is used to create online customer profiles for the purpose of selling cat food,…
This article explains the link between information disorder (represented by misinformation, disinformation and malinformation) and trust on the Internet, from both socio-economic and technological perspective. The topics are analysed through information/content type that is a popular online representative of the problem: the fake news phenomenon and the fact-checking initiatives trying to combat it.
Privacy dissolves, and with it our concept of the democratic public. Thoughts on Cambridge Analytica and the consequences of the scandal on Facebook data. Facebook has apparently been and continues to influence elections and voting, not to say manipulated. And how many others do I wonder if it was not a big mistake to…
Bissera Zankova, Media 21 Foundation, Bulgaria May 2 2018 Nowadays we are constantly witnessing how diverse Internet intermediaries are rapidly evolving to perform a variety of important social and economic functions. Some facilitate users’s access to the Internet, enable the processing of information and data, or host web-based services, including for user-generated content. The different…
Lately, there have been frequent talks about fighting “fake news” and promoting media literacy. The President of Latvia has already held two public discussions on “fake news” and provided media literacy lessons for 9th grade students. But what is being done to make the old book of fake news clear (and would not have a…
As elections are approaching Latvia in autumn 2018, very important questions are been raised by agitation monitoring and elimination in social networks, especially Facebook. For the purpose to ensure transparent elections, Jēkabs Straume, the head of Latvia’s Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) in the Parliamentary commission session offered, if needed to ask for court…
The Czech Constitutional Court accepted constitutional complaint that both the Police and County Court broke constitutional rights with respect to issuing fine 380 EUR for private libel communication by an individual via Facebook in communication between two persons. The Czech Constitutional Court (III.ÚS 3844/13 ) acknowledged that the Police obtained data from Facebook account in…
The article published on the online news portal OFFNews discusses various aspects including psychological ones of the Analytica case. The author Maja Mladenova presents all the factual background of the scandal through the Guardian investigation of the personal career of Christopher Wiley. She refers to the Trump’s adviser Steve Bannon’s sentence “I invented the weapon…
Against the backdrop of the buzz about the leak in Facebook may be it is the time to ask what kind of Bulgarians Zuckerberg sees in his network. Facebook is likely to respond in its own style: It’s complicated. That’s why: Comment by Ivan Bedrov: The Bulgarian blogger Ivan Bedrov comments on the BG section…
The material is about a piece of news announced during the regular news and current affairs programme of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) “Worldwide and in our country” and published on the website of the BNT about the number of Bulgarians affected by the Analytica misuse of data. It also provides information about an initiative…
Against the backdrop of the Analytica controversy the portal “Dnevnik” deals with the more practical issue how to protect data on Facebook. It refers to the Liffeh book on how to protect accounts without sacrificing your participation in the largest social network of the world. Which kind of Hollywood star you look like, “Which of…
Author: Maria Manolova The Cambridge Analytica crisis has exposed the sinister sides of the social network. No easy solution appears to be on the way The article published by the online edition of Capital weekly discusses the risks of harm generated by Facebook against the backdrop of the Analytica scandal. The author presents also interesting…
An interesting article published by the Manager News site which reveals that a year ago Chris Clark – marketing and technology pundit predicted what would happen with data on FB. It points that much of the success of the Trump phenomenon in politics and Brexit is due to the success of Cambridge Analytica, which can…
Prof. Nelly Ognyanova, media lawyer, comments on the recent developments in the ongoing Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal on her blog Media Law discussing the arguments for the establishment of an effective appeal procedure. Prof. Ognyanova draws attention to the fact that Facebook is about to hire 20,000 people to identify hate speech because laws such as…
Author: Borislav Krastev Commenting on the recent Facebook scandal concerning “Analytica” Borislav Krastev provides his explanation of the conditions and factors that have led to it. He claims that we all fall victims of a long pursued advertizing strategy. According to the author the biggest secret of the last 10 years is that all social…
Michal Zlatkovský, the data journalist from the Czech Radio argues that the problem is not Cambridge Analytica – the problem is Facebook. Zlatkovský reminds us that in 2014, Cambridge Analytica offered US users one to two US dollars for filling a personality quiz. About 270,000 people participated for a small reward. The real purpose of…
More Decentralized and Less Personalized Democracy as Protection against the “Fake News”? We present here some comments from a public debate on the topic “Direct Democracy Guards against disinformation and “fake news” held at the University of Geneve on March 23, 2018. Context of this debate was the Helvetic culture of discussion, where alliances are…
Author: Nomi Byström, a postdoctoral researcher in computer sciences at Aalto University, Finland With the recent revelations on the unlawful use of voters’ data to influence their political choices, both the EU and its member states need to take legislative measures to prevent such campaigning, which violated privacy rights and eroded democracy. The first step…
Author: Miroslav Pikus, an expert on cloud and informatics Computers take privacy away from us and regulation by the state helps just little. The real solution is between the PC monitor and the keyboard – and you may not even want it. Because we want to have privacy, but even more we want to show…
Dear visitors – journalists, researchers, stakeholders, policymakers and media enthusiasts! Our consortium joint together in project Compact to increase awareness of the latest technological discoveries among key stakeholders in the context of social media and convergence. We welcome you to read and write about our findings and use them in your future decisions. The Consortium…