What is mis/disinformation?
The UK government defines disinformation as the deliberate creation and spreading of false and/or manipulated information that is intended to deceive and mislead people, either for the purposes of causing harm, or for political, personal or financial gain. Misinformation is the inadvertent spread of false information.
Misinformation and disinformation are not new. But social media and new technologies have made it easier, quicker and cheaper than ever before for both domestic and foreign malign actors to spread disinformation to huge audiences and specific targeted groups.
What is the Counter Disinformation Unit?
The Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU) was first set up within the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in 2019 and it has since responded to periods of acute disinformation risk including Covid-19. Its purpose is to understand disinformation narratives and attempts to artificially manipulate the information environment to ensure that the government understands the scope and reach of harmful mis and disinformation and can take appropriate action. Such action can include posting a response on social media rebutting the claim, awareness raising campaigns to promote the facts, and working with social media companies to encourage them to promote authoritative sources of information and consistently enforce their terms of service.
www.gov.uk/government/news/fact-sheet-on-the-cdu-and-rru
What sort of disinformation did the CDU refer to social media companies?
Examples of narratives the CDU has referred to social media platforms includes:
COVID-19 disinformation narratives, such as claims pushing harmful ‘cures’ for COVID-19 e.g. bleach.
Disinformation related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, such as denial of mass casualty events by Russian Embassy accounts, e.g. claims the Bucha massacre and the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, were both hoaxes.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, over 95% of referrals made by the CDU related to state backed disinformation.
The civil servant – who can be named as Sarah Connolly – said that one of the Counter Disinformation Unit’s (CDU’s) main functions was “passing information over” to companies such as Facebook and Twitter to “encourage… the swift takedown” of posts.
h/t Damn…!!!