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The EU DisinfoLab team wishes you a Happy New Year! We hope you’ve had a restful break and are ready for the long road ahead in EU digital policy and the fight against disinformation.
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Disinfo news & updates Brazil democracy under threat. On Sunday, supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed three government buildings in Brazil over false claims of a rigged election – scenes which echo the U.S. Capitol riot on 6 January, 2021. This article shares how Brazilian researchers “detected a surge in aggressive rhetoric from election denialists in far-right channels online ahead of Sunday’s rioting”. Political ads. Back in 2019, Twitter had prohibited political and issue-based ads amidst a general concern that politicians could pay to target social media users with widespread misinformation. Last week, the social media platform eased that ban on cause-based ads. Twitter added that it would “expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks.” Anti-terrorism content tool. Tech Against Terrorism and Google’s R&D unit Jigsaw have developed a free tool to help smaller online platforms moderate terrorist content. More algorithmic clarity. End of December, TikTok announced that users will soon better understand why a video has been suggested to them through their ‘For You’ feed. The new “Why this video” button will provide users with more explanation as to why specific content was recommended to them. This feature
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