Critical Thinking — Issue 05 I am writing to let you have an update on progress with Critical Information. It goes without saying that there’s been a great deal happening on the fake news / disinformation front. I’ve listed (on ) what for me were some of the main events / developments since the last issue of Critical Thinking. I myself have attended two excellent public discussions on ‘post-truth’ / fake news — one at the Institute of Ideas [ICA, 5 Feb], chaired by Polly Toynbee and featuring Rae Langton, Hilary Lawson & Steve Fuller; the other, at the Oxford Literary Festival, held in the fabulous new lecture theatre at Worcester College [17 Mar], chaired by Stephen Law and featuring Matthew D’Ancona & Alice Thwaite.1 I’ve also given a couple of talks on the threat to social cohesion / democracy posed by fake information.2 I’m currently working on a talk suitable for schools… Earlier this year I was surprised to discover just how many books and reports have been published on fake news, BS, information warfare, and related topics over the last 12-18 months. I’ve logged 60, and that’s only publications in English! The covers are shown in the graphic below. So far, I’ve only read or browsed a few (those ringed). It would be great to have a shortlist of the best publications: can anyone recommend any of the others shown — or perhaps ones I’ve missed? Website Improvements I’ve reviewed and revised the ‘top line’ pages on the Critical Information website and set up a new one, which identifies over 30 videos dealing with fake news, relevant developments in artificial intelligence, and the growing disquiet concerning the manipulation and misuse of social media; and I’ve added a laypersons' guide to some of the psychological tricks ad agencies and internet companies use to grab our attention and keep us scrolling / clicking like addicts. I’ve also improved the ‘Resources’ Page, reworked ‘The Collapse in Public Trust’, and added pages on: ‘The Ministry of Truth’ (UCL’s Senate House in London provided the model for Orwell) and ‘Quotations’; and 20 more terms for the Glossary.3 Videos I am very aware that my choice of videos is highly personal and eclectic and also that much of what I have uploaded is strongly critical of social media. It is true that many videos on the internet sing the praises of the technology, but most are several years old. More recent videos seem to focus on the

1 Alice set up and runs the EcoChamber Club. 2 For those interested, I gave a ‘Thinking on Sunday’ talk to the Conway Hall Ethical Society [18 Mar] — I’ve written a piece for the Ethical Record. The invitation followed a presentation I made to Bromley Humanists [14 Feb]. And I have three more talks lined up — Central London Humanists [in July]; Milton Keynes University of the Third Age [in Nov.]; and the Royal Latin School in Buckingham. 3 Terms added include: ; ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response); B2B & B2C; ; Deep State; ; Data Poisoning; Hashtag Poisoning; Illusory Truth Effect; Information Laundering; FoMO; Gamification; Psychographics; Red Pill; Streisand Effect; Tag Suggestions Technology; Tribal Epistemology; Vlogger; and Zero-Day Bug. Critical Thinking Issue 05 Page: 2 pros AND the cons. And a growing number are condemning the whole idea and encouraging people to kick the habit. It is clear that social media is not going away any time soon (Facebook’s profits have actually increased despite recent scandals); the question I have tried to explore is whether it is possible to prevent the cynical manipulation of social media and somehow moderate the ways in which it is damaging people’s mental health and the viability of the democratic process. I would welcome any comments or criticisms on the content or balance of the material I’ve selected. Grading the ‘Truth’ The Independent Press Standards Organisation has today launched a newspaper ad campaign to publicise a new kite mark for its members' publications (see image). It is too early to say what impact this is likely to have. But I rather like the look of a new Swedish initiative. The country will hold elections in September, and it has been preparing for the threat of outside political interference from Russia. It has set up a new fact-checking initiative to help reveal the spread of invented news content claiming to be true — its aim is to encourage “an open, inclusive and fact-based public debate.” Each participating media platform/publisher is expected to perform their own factcheck and their items are then graded using a colour code, from green (‘completely true’) to red (‘completely false’), with three intermediate levels. Swedes can also search a dedicated website for the most important topics in the upcoming elections. It is great to see news items graded for truth — we could do with a system like this for the UK’s tabloids!4 Facebook I’ve recently established a Facebook page for Critical Information where I’ve been posting links to interesting articles and reports. Do take a look and if you’re so inclined, ‘like’ the page so that I can get an indication of the level of interest. It would be great if any of you felt able to contribute suggestions for items to post… For example, a number of interesting conferences are coming up covering fake news, open source issues, fact checking and or cyber security. I thought you might be interested to keep an eye out for the following: • 360/OS (Open Source & Digital Forensic Exploration, Atlantic Council) in Berlin (20-22 Jun) • The Fifth Global Fact-Checking Summit in Rome (20-22 Jun) • MozFest 2018 in London (26-28 Oct) If you know of others you can recommend, please let me know and I will put a note on Facebook. Can You Help? I have a growing list of items and issues that it would be helpful to know more about. Would anyone be willing to help with some on-line research on: • Education: What are UK schools doing to encourage critical thinking (especially with the A Level about to be abandoned)? What resources are there for teachers? For an explanation of the anteater picture see item on • Sociology: Is anybody interested in preparing a 27th April on page 3. short think piece on the ‘Sociology of Trust’? This is a really important area because misinformation directly undermines trust, and trust is a prerequisite of social cohesion.5 • Prosecutions: It is a criminal offence (under Section 127, 2003 Communications Act) for a person to send via a public electronic communications network a message that he knows to be false. Anyone found guilty is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months and or a fine. It would be very useful to have a brief on how a group might seek to prosecute public figures who deliberately spread falsehoods (£350m/week for the NHS?) and what it might cost. Any takers? My sincere thanks to all those who have sent comments or suggestions or told others about the work of Critical Information. This is much appreciated. Thank you so much. Mike Flood [30th April 2018] [email protected]

4 Interesting to see that Theresa May has announced a review into future of newspapers [06-Feb]. 5 I can provide a useful shortlist of key publications. Critical Thinking Issue 05 Page: 3 Annex: Overview of Things in the News I’ve selected the following items which have appeared in the news since the last Critical Thinking [11 Dec]. I found them all interesting / insightful. (I’ve identified just one representative link per topic.) Please let me know if you think I’ve missed something important / worth passing on. 2017 Dec • Facebook hits back at former executive Chamath Palihapitiya [13-Dec] • Figure of the Year: 1310 [20 Dec] [1,310 = number of fake stories put out by Russia and identified by EU vs Disinfo in 2017.] 2018 Jan • Online Information Laundering: The Role of Social Media [9 Jan] • Government announces anti-fake news unit [23-Jan] Just how do you prevent genuine satire like this being taken down • Campaigner Sara Khan to lead new counter-extremism body [25 Jan] by fact-checkers? Feb • Faking It: Fake News And How It Impacts On The Charity Sector [01-Feb] • porn has serious consequences [03-Feb] • #PutinAtWar: How Russia Weaponized “Russophobia” [14 Feb] • Mueller indictment on Russian election case [16-Feb] • AI ripe for exploitation, experts warn [21-Feb] Mar • Google’s AI is being used by US military drone programme [07-Mar] • Germany looks to revise social media law as Europe watches [08-Mar] • The science of fake news [09-Mar] • Tim Berners-Lee: we must regulate tech firms to prevent 'weaponised' web [12-Mar] • Disinformation: a users guide [17-Mar] • #DeleteFacebook trends in response to Cambridge Analytica [20 Mar] • Psychographics: the behavioural analysis that helped Cambridge Analytica know voters’ minds [21-Mar] • Sergei Skripal attack: Russian Embassy is fuelling tensions with some very undiplomatic tweets [21-Mar] • Defensive disinformation as decoy flare: Skripal and Flight MH17 [27-Mar] Apr • Facebook: Cambridge Analytica warning sent to users [09-Apr] • AI like HAL 9000 can never exist because real emotions aren’t programmable [9 Apr] • UK carries out cyber-attack on Islamic State [12- Apr] • Google loses 'right to be forgotten' case [13-Apr] • The Guardian view on Facebook’s business: a danger to democracy? [Editorial] [17 Apr] • Will technology destroy our democracy? [17-Apr] • No, the BBC is not reporting the end of the world [19 Apr] — image above • Martin Lewis seeks damages for 'fake' Facebook ads [23 Apr] • Wildlife photo competition disqualifies 'stuffed anteater' image [27 Apr] — images on p2 • Russian bots tried to swing general election for Jeremy Corbyn [29 Apr] — see graph. • Who should hold the keys to our data? [29 Apr]

Fake News Enquiry Finally, the Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee has been siting (since Jan 2017) on an enquiry into fake news. If you are interested in the evidence it has been receiving — including the testimony of Facebook’s Chief Technical Officer, Mike Schroepfer (on 26 Apr) — you can follow progress here.