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Online information about the offline world

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Taking falsehood out of limbo: the role of social bots in the fake news industry

False information dates before the invention of the Internet, of course, but the advent of this disruptive technology has changed radically the way false information is presented and circulated in public space. The low cost to create and maintain fraudulent websites and the facilities to spread information on the web have taken falsehood to the next level, evolving to what became known as fake news.

To start from the beginning, fake news is news, stories or hoaxes created to intentionally misinform or deceive people. And these stories are usually fabricated to either influence people’s views, push political agenda or cause confusion.

The process of deceiving starts even before fake news contents reach its readers. In a study called “The spread of fake news by social bots”, researchers from Indiana University explored the role of software-controlled profiles and pages, known as social bots, in the process of making false information go viral. 

Having analysed 122 websites that, according to the established media, constantly publish false and/or misleading information, they found that social bots actively share links in the first few seconds after they are first posted. In many articles, one or two accounts are responsible for the whole activity. Some accounts share the same information up 100 times or more.

It was also found that one of the bots’ strategies is to expose influential people to a claim. By exposing journalists and politicians to an affirmation, social bots create the false impression that the subject is being widely discussed and shared, therefore increasing its probability of being more diffused.

“People tend to trust social contacts and can be manipulated into believing and spreading content produced in this way. To make matters worse, echo chambers [another way to refer to filter bubbles] make it easy to tailor misinformation and target those who are most to believe in it”. 

In another study, “The spread of true and false news online”, researchers from MIT investigated the diffusion of 126 thousand stories on Twitter from 2006 to 2017. Adopting a broader definition of the term news, as “any story or claim with an assertion in it”, they concluded that falsehood spreads significantly farther, faster, deeper and more broadly than the truth. Political fake news achieved the same results when compared to false information about terrorism, natural disasters, science, urban legends, or financial information.

It was noted that while truth seldom outstretched to 1000 people on Twitter, the top 1% of fake news routinely reached 1000 thousand to 100,000 people. Also, it took the truth around six times more to reach 1500 people.

Surprisingly or not, users who spread false information had fewer followers, followed significantly fewer people, had been on Twitter for amazingly less time, were significantly less active on the platform and also were verified less often.

According to the retweeting likelihood model used in the study, false information was 70% more likely to be shared in comparison to true statements. Besides, it was more novel than true stories and displayed higher unique information.

To give some real-life examples to the aforementioned data, analysis from BuzzFeed, back in November 2016, found that fake election news outperformed factual stories on Facebook in terms of engagement in the last three months before the US presidential election. In the social media, which is designed to engage people rather than displaying trustworthy content, the 20 top-performing fake election news had 8,711,000 shares, reactions and comments on the platform. On the other hand, the 20 top-performing elections stories from the 19 major media outlets websites generated 7,367,000, shares, reactions and comments. 

The most engaging post overall was one referring to a statement from Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump for president. The post, published by Ending the Fed, had 960,000 engagements in total. Donald Trump himself shared the information on Twitter. Pope Francis had never made such an endorsement.

In “Filter Bubbles and Fake News”, researchers mentioned two other independent studies, one from the University of Southern California, and the other from Oxford University, the University of Washington, and Corvinus University of Budapest which were found that AI-controlled bots were spreading pro-Trump content in “overwhelming numbers”. 

Whether it is difficult to determine if false information had either influenced the result of the election or not, research from the Pew Research Center can give us some food for thought.  

In a survey conducted by the institute, in 2015, 61% of Millennials reported relying on Facebook as their main source for government and political news. The social media was also mentioned by 51% of Generation X as the principal media for political and government news; 39% was the percentage among Baby Boomers.  

In an article about the role of news on Facebook, in 2013, about half of US adults Facebook users (47%) “ever” got news there. This percentage accounts for 30% of the US population. 

Despite relying on Facebook for political news, most of US adults do not access Facebook for seeking news. In fact, 78% mostly see the news on the platform for other reasons, as the same article reveals.

In matters apart from politics, damage caused by fake news can be perceived more easily. In 2013, the financial market suffered an impact of $130 billion in stock value after a tweet from the Associated Press (AP) saying that the then-president Barack Obama was hurt in an explosion. The information was false, and the AP said its Twitter account was hacked. Stock prices recovered shortly after. 

[e-newsroom]

Brazil is last in testing for Covid-19 among countries with over 100k total infections

With 125,218 confirmed cases and 8,536 deaths until Wednesday (06/05) night, Brazil is the ninth country most affected by coronavirus so far, according to Worldometers’ coronavirus chart. Yet, the South American country, which is the ninth-largest economy in the World, has tested only 1,597 people per million inhabitants up-to-date, accounting for 339,552 total tests, still according to Worldometers’ website. 

These numbers are the lowest among the list of ten countries with over 100 thousand total infections, consisting of the US, Spain, Italy, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Turkey, Brazil, and Iran, respectively. The US leads the ranking in total tests, with slightly over 8 million tests; 24,185 per million. Spain, second on the list of total infections, tests 41,332 per million. The average testing level per million in the other nine countries altogether is 25,281. 

Brazil’s testing numbers are low even when compared to other countries in South America. Home of 211,4 million people in a total of 422,5 million citizens living in the region, Brazil is way behind the 13 and 12 thousand tests per million in Peru and Chile, respectively. In fact, Brazil is only ahead of Bolivia, Guyana and Suriname in the matter, data on Worldometers reveals.

Brazil’s response to the novel coronavirus

Understanding how the federal government are dealing with the novel coronavirus may explain why the number of tests is below the expectations. 

Forty-eight days (14/04) after the first confirmed case in Brazil, on the 26 of February, the then Minister of Health Luiz Henrique Mandetta released a plan to use both private and public laboratories to have three million tests done. Despite acknowledging the country’s difficulty to buy test kits, the Department of Health set a target to do 30 thousand tests per day. 

Two days later, president Jair Bolsonaro released Mr Mandetta from his duties after continually disagreeing on what the response to the pandemic should be. By that time, the head of state was referring to Covid-19 as measly flu, adamantly downsizing its threat. He has also insisted that the measurements taken by the Department of Heath were following the “hysteria created by the media”. In the same day, Nelson Teich was announced the new Minister of Health, taking office on the following day, 17 of March.

Emphasizing a complete alignment with the president, Teich used his first press media conference as minister to say that no radical definition on what was going to happen would be made. 

“It’s crucial to understand the information we have, what plan is going to be deployed and the best way to practice social-distancing and self-isolation”.

Twenty-one days after taking office and 70 days after the first confirmed case in Brazil, Minister Teich announced on Wednesday (06/05) that in one or two days his department will release the date to start a campaign to tackle the virus. It was also announced a plan to test 46.5 million people, 22% of Brazil’s population. According to Teich, president Jair Bolsonaro asked him to “talk a little bit more about the disease now”.

Meanwhile, Mr Bolsonaro remains steadfast with his immature approach to the pandemic, attending to anti-democratic protests, shaking people’s hand and hugging supporters on the street. In his new polemic, he said that he is going to host a barbecue for approximately 30 or so guests this Saturday (09/05).

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From living the dream to being stuck at home: how new immigrants in Ireland are coping with Covid-19

Unhappy with the economic stagnation and political turmoil Brazil has undergone in the recent years, Jéssica Dante (32) has left her civil service job in São Paulo and, accompanied by her husband Maicon, decided to have a breath of fresh air in Dublin. Little did they know that few weeks after their arrival the novel coronavirus would force the government to announce a lockdown. Still adapting to a new country and a new life, the couple’s routine now is staying at home as much as they can.

“It’s been pretty sad. I couldn’t imagine being in a situation like that even in my worst nightmares. Every day is the same: English classes online, a visit to the market when needed, and then we go to bed”, Jessica recounts. 

Not knowing when life will go back to normality, she is still hoping to find a job as their resources are drying up. 

“I have been applying online for jobs daily. Last March I received some calls and attended a few interviews, but my Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) hadn’t arrived yet. Since the lockdown, not a single call. I fear we will have difficulties to make ends meet if I don’t get a job until the end of the week”, she says. 

At their arrival in Dublin, they had three thousand euro and some savings in Brazil to be brought when needed. After paying for Visa, monthly rent and the deposit, the euro is almost gone and they have already dipped into their savings. Up-to-date, Brazilian Real depreciated 37.55% to the Euro, hitting the highest rate in the history of the currency to a 6.06 per euro rate. 

“As the euro was too expensive to buy all at once, I was bringing it little by little, waiting for a better price, but it is only getting more expensive. I feel desperate every time I have to bring money from Brazil”.

Pedro Walter (38), also from Brazil, is encountering the same hardship cause by Covid-19. After a fruitless application to migrate to the United States, he and his wife Carla Beatriz moved to Dublin to fulfil their ambitions to live abroad. Sharing a house with eleven more people, ten Brazilians (nine newcomers) and one Guatemalan, they try to help each other in such unstable times.

“The rent is what concerns us the most. My wife and I still have resources, but the uncertainty of when all this will come to an end makes us wonder if it wouldn’t be better saving as much as we can now. We all tried to negotiate a rent holiday, but the real state company offered us only a discount of ten per cent, which is not enough”, Pedro says.

Finding a job would help him to ease his financial worries, but he is still waiting for his PPSN.

“I applied online on March 25, and I am still waiting for it to arrive. I am already looking for a job, though. When I go to the supermarket, which happens once or twice a week, I look for places that are seeking workers. Job websites, social media and recommendations from friends are also part of my daily job hunt. I went to two jobs interviews so far, but when I explained to the employer that I was waiting for the document, I didn’t get the job.”

To make the dream of living abroad financially possible, Pedro and Carla had to sell their car and motorcycle. The house they lived in Brazil was rented, but all the furniture was also sold. In case of an unexpected return to Brazil, they fear they would have to move in with Carla’s mother.

In Galway, Amel Aguilar (24) has seen some of her friends moving back to Mexico after the lockdown. Having arrived one week before the country shut down, she plans on staying in Ireland, amid lost of the investment made in her exchange program and the small support given by the Mexican government.

“I’ve talked to my family and they back me up. I graduated one year ago and thanks to my family support I’ve had the chance to be here (in Galway). My goal is to learn English, learn about a new culture and to be more independent, but of course, this situation worries me”.

[e-newsroom]

Covid-19: US records 20k new cases in 24h; Italy accounts for 100k total cases as daily infection reaches lowest level in weeks

The new epicentre of Covid-19, the United States recorded 20,353 new cases in the last 24 hours, adding to a total of 164,266 cases according to worldometers website. This number is a new record of infections per day. In China, the first epicentre of Covid-19, the worst day of infection was February 12, when 14,108 people contracted the virus.

In the attempt to slow down the spread of the contamination, president Donald Trump changed his tone and announced last Sunday (29) the extension of social distancing guidelines. There should be no gatherings of more than 10 people, nonessential travel, going to work, nor going to bars and restaurants until the end of April at the earliest. 

“During this period, it’s very important that everyone strongly follow the guidelines [...] therefore, we will be extending our guidelines to April 30 to slow the spread.”, Mr Trump told reporters. 

Until recently, Mr Trump insisted that people should go back to work. His turnaround is explained by the conclusion from the government that 2.2 million US residents could die if nothing is done to tackle the virus.

Up to date, New York alone has 67,325 total cases and 1,342 deaths. Its neighbour New Jersey adds 16,636 cases and 198 deaths to a total of 164,266 people infected and 3,170 deaths in the country. 

Over 100k total cases in Italy; lowest infection in a day since March 17

Recently surpassed by the US as the most affected country by Covid-19, Italy has also reached six figures in total of cases. With 4,050 new cases yesterday, the lowest number of people infected in a day since March 17, the European country is, alongside the United States, the only two nations to have 100 thousand or more confirmed cases so far, with 101,739 cases; Third in the list, Spain has 87,956 total cases until now.

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Bolsonaro adamantly denies Covid-19′s impact on health

The novel coronavirus has forced the world to stop. With no vaccine or remedy to fight the virus, heads of state have adopted isolation and social distance measures to prevent the virus outbreak from expanding even more. But neither worldwide actions nor the 425,959 confirmed cases around the globe and almost 20,000 deaths so far seems to be enough to make Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro admit the threat Covid-19 can pose to society. 

Mr. Bolsonaro understands the novel coronavirus as a media trick, and since the arrival of the virus in Brazil he has been devoted to fight what he calls “hysteria”, defending that businesses should keep going once the economy cannot standstill.

The lastest episode involving Mr. Bolsonaro and coronavirus happened yesterday (24). The head of state made an official announcement on national radio and television admitting that he knew the Covid-19 would eventually arrive in Brazil, but reinforced that people have to continue living their lives.

“The virus has arrived, it has been sorted and will end shortly. Our lives have to continue. People must keep their jobs. The standard of living must be preserved. We must go back to normality”, said Brazil’s president in the speech that lasted approximately five minutes. 

Despite Mr. Bolsonaro nonchalant manner towards the Covid-19, the majority of the governors across the country have been following WHO guidelines, shutting down schools and businesses and urging the population to stay home. 

In another part of his speech, Mr. Bolsonaro condenmed such attitudes, saying that “what has been happening in the world has shown that the group of risk are people over 60′s, so why should we close schools?”. 

Brazil has 2,271 confirmed cases and 47 deaths so far. 

Speech reactions

Mr. Bolsonaro faced pot-banging protests in at least 10 different states during his speech, according to the national media. Yesterday was the eighth day in a row of banging in pots and pans. 

This way of protest, first started in Chile, became popular in Brazil during Dilma Rousseff’s government. She was later impeached. 

[e-newsroom]

Sports world shaken up by coronavirus

The pandemic Covid-19 has been affecting society worldwide. Educational institutions are shutting down, people are advised to work from home when possible and all kinds of mass gatherings are now discouraged by governments in order to contain the virus outbreak.

In sports, as in all levels of society, the impact of the new coronavirus has been immense. In Italy, the second most impacted country by the virus, with 15,113 cases so far, all domestic sports activities are suspended until April 3 at the earliest, the Italian national Olympic committee (CONI) has announced. Prior the suspension, every last week's matches of Serie A, Italy's highest football division, were played behind closed doors, including the derby between Juventus and Inter Milan. 

England has also announced that the Premier League and all other English football fixtures are suspended until the beginning of April, after learning that several Premier League clubs, including players and coaches, are displaying symptoms of the virus. Meanwhile, UEFA has announced that both Champions League and Europa League are postponed.

France has not suspended the national football calendar yet. Last Monday (9), the French sports minister, Roxana Maracineanu, announced that the Ligue 1, France's top division, would not exceed a maximum of 1,000 fans inside stadiums until the April 15. Before the minister's announcement, Paris police had already decided that the UEFA Champions League's match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund would be played behind closed doors to avoid aglomeration. France has currently 2,876 total cases with 61 deaths. 

Overseas, competitions have also been suspended. In the US, the basketball and hockey leagues paused their seasons. The National Basketball League (NBA) announced the suspension of games for at least 30 days after receiving the information that the Utah Jazz's Center, Rudy Gobert, was tested positive for the virus. The National Hockey League (NHL) followed NBA's decision once both leagues share facilities and locker rooms, and "now seems likely that some member of the NHL community would test positive at some point", said the NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Hours after Gobert's tested positive, his teammate Donovan Mitchell also tested positive.  

Still in the US, the Major League Baseball (MLB) season, set to start on March 26, was delayed in at least two weeks; pre-season games are cancelled.  

The automobilism world has also been affected. Amid the fear of Covid-19, this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne was cancelled. 

In a statement issued jointly by F1, FIA and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, the federations decided to cancel the first race of the season after a member of the McLaren Racing Team contracted the virus.

Future events

Besides the annual sports events, 2020 is also the year of UEFA EURO and Olympic Games, two competions that mobilise a large number of athletes and fans.  

Japan’s Olympic minister, Seiko Hashimoto, is “absolutely not at all” considering cancellation or a postponement. Tokyo Olympic Games is schedule to start on July 24. According to Irish Mirror, the european competition will be postponed to 2021.

[e-newsroom]

Rio's governor unauthorizedly records vice-president's phone call and shares on social media

The governor of Rio de Janeiro Wilson Witzel recorded a video where he calls Brazil's acting president Hamilton Mourão on February 26th, and shared the conversation on social media. Mr. Mourão was not aware that he was being recorded and learned about the video after its publication. Hamilton Mourão is Bolsonaro's vice-president and is running the country while the of head state himself is in an official visit to India.  

In the video, Mr. Witzel is in the backseat of a car, visiting the city of Porciúncula when he calls the acting president via WhatsApp to ask for federal aid in the outcome of the heavy rains and floods that had affected Northeast Rio de Janeiro. Rio's governor had his phone on speaker mode and at no time mentioned the phone call was being recorded. The video was edited to add-on subtitles before being posted. 

Both Mr. Bolsonaro and Mr. Mourão condemned Witzel's attitude.   

"I believe he forgot what is ethic and moral", the vice-president said.

Still in India when the incident happened, the president said that "this is not an usual behavior [for a governor]" and added by saying that " [he] wouldn't like to be exposed like that, no matter what is being discussed [...] What is dealt in a phone call should remain private".  

Wilson Witzel didn't go to the press to explain himself. He issued an official statement justifying that "the only intention was to keep the population tranquil, knowing that he has been working along with the federal government to assist the inhabitants of affected cities".  

This is the most recent case where brazilians right-wing politicians are exposed on social media, but it's far for being the only one. Last March, Bolsonaro shared an obscene video on Twitter asking what the term "Golden Shower" meant.  

In the previous month, Bolsonaro had some audio messages leaked by Gustavo Bebianno after the latter was dismissed from his minister role by the president. Bolsonaro had accused Mr. Bebianno of disloyalty. The former minister then leaked his conversations with the president to prove, as he said, “that he had always been loyal.” 

These political turbulences caused by right-wing politicians on social media can be partially addressed to the disbelief on traditional communication vehicles. 

Because of such distrust, politicians are bypassing the traditional channels, that flows from authority to media and media to the population. Now they have a direct channel to society through social media.   

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The Internet and the collapse of the "world's happiest country“

How not to feel blessed when you live in a multi-cultural country, where the sun shines all year round and the astonishing land-and cityscapes never cease to amaze you?

Brazilians used to feel fortunate to live in a territory that seemed to be perfect at first sight. For many years, they even considered themselves the "happiest people in the world". Many even claimed that God was Brazilian, in a reference that He had reserved the richiest soil, the best wheather condition, and an extremely talented national footballl team (among other factors) to their land.

Unfortunately for them, this belief has been shaken up by political and social issues that had never been so exposed since the advent of the Internet and non-traditional media. Due to the Internet’s intrisic power to spread information, therefore increasing people's awareness of any subject, brazilians went from being pride to developing a self-deteriorating image when they learned that Brazil was far from being perfect. To contextualize, this beautiful and important country has been mired in political crises for almost half a decade now, which in turn has led to an economic stagnation that affects most of its inhabitants. That being said, the Internet, and more specifically visual social media, has become a means of comparison to other nations, often contrasting the negative side of Brazil with the good side of other countries.

On Youtube, channels of brazilian people who live abroad are highly popular, especially those in which the main content is to show their routines and places in general around Europe and the United States of America. These Youtube channels act as a source of entertainment for those who haven't had the opportunity to travel outside of Brazil, and also to gather information for the ones who dream to live abroad.

Some of these channels deliberatly compare both countries, not rarely displaying the benefits of the referred country over Brazil in different matters, such as public security, price of goods, and everything that somehow affects people's quality of life, and society as a whole.

Some of these Youtubers have become so influencial that they have achieved the status of celebrity. Here is one of the most illustrative example: Luis Miranda, from "Luis Miranda USA" channel, used to show his life as an enterpreneur in the US to explain to brazilians how great America was, often adding critical comments about Brazil's tax legislation and government matters in general.

Having used his authority among his 741 thousand subscribers on Youtube and almost three million followers on Facebook, he successfully ran for the Congress, being the sixth most voted politician to become a member of the legislative body, with approximately sixty-five thousand votes.

The Internet's power to connect people and spread information in a scale never seen before in human history has been influencing brazilians in the way they perceive their country. According to a survey conducted in 2018 by Datafolha, one of the most recognized polling institutes in Brazil, 62% of young brazilians (16 to 24 years-old) want to leave the country. This percentage corresponds to 19 million people. A similar trend can be observed among 25 to 34yro and 35 to 44 year-old citizens, registering 50% and 44% respectively. The US would be the number one choice, followed by Portugal and Canada.

According to the survey, if it were financially viable for these individuals to leave, Brazil would lose 70 million of its 209 million inhabitants. This number represents the population of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Paraná altogether.