{"id":13341,"date":"2020-08-04T13:23:05","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T11:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rnw.media\/?post_type=news&p=13341"},"modified":"2020-08-04T13:23:05","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T11:23:05","slug":"rnw-media-at-rightscon-2020","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.rnw.media\/index.php\/news\/rnw-media-at-rightscon-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"RNW Media at RightsCon 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

RightsCon is the world\u2019s leading summit on human rights in the digital age. The annual conference brings together thousands of participants including business leaders, policy makers, government representatives, technologists, and human rights defenders to take part in hundreds of sessions. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 edition took place online and RNW Media was one of the organisations invited to present a virtual workshop.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Titled \u2018IT\u2019S AN INFODEMIC! Identifying and monitoring COVID-19 rumours and misinformation on Twitter\u2019, the strategy session attracted wide interest, with more than 200 people registering to take part even though there were only 25 places available. Brandon Oelofse, Learning and Programme Director of RNTC (RNW Media\u2019s training institute) introduced the session. He explained that there had been an explosion of interest in the virus on our platforms\u2019 social media channels around the world, and a clearly expressed need from our young target audience for reliable information.<\/p>\n

True, false or harmful?<\/strong>
\nMuch\u202fof the discourse around \u2018fake news\u2019 conflates three notions: misinformation, disinformation and malinformation. But, explained Oelofse, it\u2019s important to distinguish messages that are true from those that are false, and messages that are created, produced or distributed by \u201cagents\u201d who intend to do harm from those that are not:\u200b
\n– Mis-information is information that is false, but not created with the intention of causing harm.
\n– Dis-information is information that is false and deliberately created to harm a person, social group, organisation or country.
\n– Mal-information is information that is based on reality, such as (some) leaks and hacks, hate speech and harassment and used to inflict harm on a person, organisation or country.<\/p>\n

Global misinformation
\n<\/strong>Participants were then invited to break into smaller groups and record the COVID-19\u202frumours\u202fcirculating in their countries and whether these could be categorised as mis-, dis- or mal-information. On reporting back in the larger group, it became clear that certain myths were prevalent across very different contexts. Much misinformation related to substances that would supposedly \u2018prevent\u2019 or cure COVID-19. Onions, garlic and chilli were popular \u2018remedies\u2019 in many Asian countries, Russian social media posts recommended drinking vodka while a rumour doing the rounds in Kyrgyzstan\u202fis that dog meat can help recovery from COVID-19. This particular myth is rooted in the fact that prisoners in the former USSR used to eat dog meat to treat TB which is also a respiratory disease.\u202fHerbal remedies, sunlight and bleach were also being promoted in many countries from Finland to the Philippines and the USA.<\/p>\n

Masks and conspiracies
\n<\/strong>A rumour prevalent in some African countries is that COVID-19 will only kill white people while black people are immune. There were many examples from around the world of misinformation relating to statistics about numbers of deaths and of those infected. In some cases, such as Brazil, the government is believed to be actively manipulating statistics. Mask-wearing is often perceived as being for weak people and losers and orders to use masks are seen as a violation of freedom. Conspiracy theories around 5G technology or doubting the very existence of COVID-19 are also widespread.<\/p>\n

The session then moved on to consider a case study from RNW Media\u2019s platform in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Habari RDC. Tr\u00e9sor Kalonji is a social media specialist with the Habari team and he first presented a video outlining the situation in what he describes as \u201cone of the world\u2019s biggest misinformation hotspots\u201d.<\/p>\n